Nigerian
virologist and Head, World Health Organisation Advisory Panel on Yellow Fever,Professor
OyewaleTomori,has said that the discovery of a strain of Zika virus in the Cape
Verde, a country near Nigeria, means it knocking on the door of the most
populated nation in Africa, ITRealms reports.
Reacting
to the finding of Zikavirus in Cape Verde, Prof. Tomori, who is the President
of the Nigeria Academy of Science, cautioned Nigeria to see Zika virus as a serious
issue nearby.
“This
tells us that the Zika outbreak is not only a problem of South America, but one
that is knocking on the gates of West Africa,” he said, advised that Nigeria “must
resuscitate our moribund and comatose national disease surveillance system and
in particular, our mosquito-borne virus disease surveillance system at the
Department of Virology, University of Ibadan and the National Arbovirus
Research Institute at Enugu.”
Tomori
also advised that Nigeria heightens risk awareness to pregnant women and
promote protection steps to avoid mosquito bites as well as sexual
transmission.
He
lamented that with Zika arriving at the gates of West Africa, and Yellow fever
raging on in Angola and DR Congo, Nigeria may likely resort to her one and only
defence against disease outbreaks “organize vigils and worship in mosques, to
plead with God, who loves Nigeria so much, not to let either of the diseases
enter Nigeria. We are the same Nigerians, some of whom will travel to Angola
and DR Congo, with fake yellow fever vaccination cards.”
Okoli
Vincent/GEE
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