FG: BITTER KOLA DOESN’T CURE EBOLA

Following a series of claims for cure of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) that has killed at least 726 in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Guinea, the Federal Government has warned the public against taking serious claims by some professionals that there is cure for the disease.
Since the death of a top official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mr. Amos Sawyer, in Nigeria, some Nigerians have speculated that bitter kola could cure the disease while other spiritual healers, churches have also claimed to have the antidote to heal an infected person.
But briefing reporters at the weekend, the Director, Nigeria Centre for Control, Professor Abdulsalami Nasidi, said the Federal Government was worried over the plethora of unsubstantiated claims about the cure for the virus by many orthodox and traditional health providers, saying the diseases has no cure yet.
He said: “As for the cure, let me be specific, because we are hearing so many claims in the country with both orthodox and non-orthodox healthcare providers claiming that they have cure for Ebola. So, the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government are warning all Nigerians that are doing this to desist from doing this because Ebola is not HIV. Ebola is a killer; it will wipe out everybody if it comes to their homes, including healing homes. They will all go, including those healing.
There is no specific cure for Ebola; that doesn’t mean there is no treatment, let’s get it right, because we are encouraging people to come up, we are encouraging people with such symptoms to come up. “Categorically, there is no specific cure, but clinical experience has shown that those who come early, the survival rate is very high more than 70 per cent, if they are treated systematically. We have one of the treatment experts in the world here in Nigeria with us.
He is busy, he would have been here to tell you there is no specific cure but there is treatment for it. We all know how Ebola kills, it dehydrates; it behaves like cholera bacteria. So, all those that are handled well usually do survive.
We are not saying that case is absolutely hopeless, Lagos State and the Federal Government are already prepositioning drug for victim. We are happy that the virus has not so far escaped into any Nigerian, so the virus that came is not indigenous to Nigeria.” On the fate of First Consultants Hospital, Obalende in Lagos, where the first Ebola case was reported in the country, he said the government had succeeded in decontaminating the facility and it would soon be ready for use after certification by the Lagos State Ministry of Health.
Source: New Telegraph