No man died of Ebola in Ndop - NW health Delegate

The North West regional Delegate of Public Health, Dr Ndiforchu Victor has dismissed as false a rumour which made rounds in Ndop and Bamenda and was reported by some Media houses that a boy who was admitted at the Ndop hospital on Tuesday Nov. 11, 2014 and died a day after had the dreaded ebola virus.

Dr Ndiforchu in a press release revealed that Medical officials at the Centre Pasteur in Yaoundé had confirmed the boy didn’t die of the Ebola virus as was initially feared.

According to Cameroon Journal an online portal that extensively reported on the issue, the boy, Etome Edeme, 22, had been brought into Ndop District Hospital from a Yaoundé hospital after falling sick and manifesting severe Ebola-like symptoms for six days. He arrieved the Ndop hospital Tuesday Nov 11 and the following day Wednesday Nov 12, he died and was hastily buried by officials of Ndop Council.

According to the portal, Etome Edeme was brought into Ndop from Yaoundé had been suffering from fever for about six days. He was admitted at the Ndop hospital and because of the Ebola-like symptoms that he was manifesting, the medical director; Dr. Bambo Emmanuel Ngala, for safety reasons resolved his case be treated as one with Ebola until proven otherwise.

As news of the arrival of the boy in the hospital made rounds in the town thanks to nurses that work there, panic griped the entire municipality.

According to close sources at the Ndop Hospital who talked to this reporter, the Regional Delegation of Health in Bamenda was informed and a team from there sent down to Ndop hospital to assist. But unfortunately the boy died early that Wednesday and all the team from Bamenda did was to disinfect the entire hospital and the nurses that had attended to the patient.

Acting on the assumption that he died of Ebola, Ndop authorities took it upon themselves for safety purposes to bury the boy and not hand the corpse to the family.

After the burial, a specimen earlier collected was taken to Centre Pasteur same day and the results released on Thursday have confirmed the boy was ebola free.

Edeme died with blood bleeding out of his nostrils and coupled with other signs that he manifested the medical director and the council said they way they handled the incident was justifiable.