Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has warned that Ebola misinformation could spread fear, discourage people from reporting symptoms and hamper efforts to contain the virus.
“False information can create fear, discourage people from reporting symptoms, and undermine the cooperation essential to stop transmission,” NCDC Director-General Dr Jide Idris said at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday.
“I therefore appeal to everyone to rely on verified information <…> Please do not circulate unverified claims or stigmatise patients, contacts, healthcare workers or affected communities,” he added.
Idris also said investigators were struggling to establish the travel history of a 42-year-old Ugandan woman reportedly linked to the Swiss Embassy.
“From our investigation, she travelled out sometime in September to that area, and she came back to Nigeria through Addis Ababa. But the difficulty we have is ascertaining her travel history, and that’s why, again, we need to be careful,” he explained.
Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade on October 20, involving a woman who had returned from Uganda.
According to the NCDC’s October 24 situation report, 53 contacts had been identified, with no further confirmed infections or deaths reported in Nigeria.
The case is linked to a regional outbreak of Bundibugyo Ebola, with cases also reported in DR Congo and Kenya.
Source: Viory
