WITH 670 people declared dead as a result of the outbreak of Ebola, the world’s deadliest disease, and health officials in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and lately Nigeria struggling to control the virus, caution has become the watchword among Lagos residents.

  This apprehension was heightened in the nation’s commercial nerve centre by the reported death in Lagos of Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year old Liberian official after becoming ill on a flight from Liberia to Lagos.

   Sawyer’s death last Friday has also led to tighter screening of airline passengers in West Africa, where an unprecedented outbreak emerged in March.

  As a result of this, Lagosians took advantage of the social media platforms to alert friends and relations of the imminent dangers and some precautionary measures announced by government to curtail any likely spread of the deadly disease.

 Some of the messages Lagosians posted on their Twitter handles, Blackberry, Facebook and other social media platforms are as follows: 

 “Please, do not go near First Consultants hospital in Obalende, Lagos State! The first case of Ebola virus has been reported there. A Liberian was said to have come to Nigeria with it. FYI: Ebola is deadlier than AIDS!!! Please, kindly forward to others as I have. Tnk u.”

 Breaking news!!! A Viral Disease Goes Deadly!!!The Liberian man, Patrick Sawyer, with first case of “Ebola Disease in Nigeria is Dead!!! 

“This is the time to act in unity...Ebola kills 90 per cent of its victims. The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River, where the first outbreak occurred in 1976. Ebola is a killer disease that is transmitted through body secretion such as sweat, blood, saliva, mucous, breast secretion, tears, urine, and sexual transmission with an infected person. Puts victim in lots of pain. There is no cure and the cause is unknown. It can reproduce in 8 hours and when it does, millions of new viruses come out. It is the world’s most deadly virus and one of the most painful deaths possible. 

 “The person can die anywhere from 3-30 days or even longer. It is only stopped when it has no more hosts to feed on. The period between infection with the Ebola virus and the start of symptoms is called the Ebola incubation period, which can be as short as 2 days or as long as 21 days.” 

  “Look out for the following! Fever, sore throat, headaches, weakness, joint and muscle pain, chest pain & bleeding from skin. In pregnant women, abortion (miscarriage) and heavy vaginal bleeding are common Ebola symptoms. Death usually occurs during the second week of Ebola symptoms, and it is usually due to massive blood loss.” 

Prevention is the KEY word! Wash your hands often with soap and water, sanitizer is a good alternative. Avoid contact with people with suspicious signs and places of outbreak. Watch out for the warning signs that mimic malaria symptoms. As always, wash your fruits and vegetables before cooking. Be the Useful Virus by reporting any suspicious case to the nearest health care centre.”  

  According to Miss Bimpe Ayomide who works in a stock-broking firm on Lagos Island, she now watches any passer-by with a bit of caution in order not to be caught unaware.

  The lady also said the first thing she did after receiving the message from a friend was to locate the address of the hospital and totally avoid the area despite assurances from the Lagos State government.

 She said: “ My brother, life has no duplicate, I have even gone ahead to buy a sanitizer to help myself especially after the news that a Sierra Leone top doctor that has treated over 100 Ebola infected people died from the virus.” 

 Another Lagosian, Matthew Odeh, said the inability of government to identify all those who had contact with the deceased have made the situation worrisome.

  He said: “As it is today, nobody is certain of anything, we just have to help ourselves. It is a reality that we have to face now.”

     Sawyer’s wife, Decontee Sawyer, 34, would shudder now when she thinks of how close her husband was to returning home to the States for his daughters’ birthday party while carrying the dreaded virus.

 Sawyer, a citizen of United States was planning to return to Coon Rapids, Minnesota, to be reunited with his children for the celebration of two of his daughters’ birthdays in August.

  Decontee said: ‘It is a global problem because Patrick could’ve easily come home with Ebola. ‘Easy. Easy. It’s close; it’s at our front door. It knocked down my front door.”

 “His long absence away from home had become common and before he boarded the plane to Lagos last week, he had been caring for a sister who was ill with what was revealed to be Ebola.” 

 “His job had taken him back to West Africa to promote economic development there and he was last in the United States in September,” she added.

 Although, according to Decontee, he and his family did not know that at the time.

  Decontee learned he was ill with Ebola on Thursday and then on Friday she was told her husband of six years had passed away from the virus.

  Distraught, Decontee said that she had come forward to share her husband’s fate so that the public can understand how quickly the virus can spread.

“Patrick was coming here. What if he still wasn’t displaying symptoms yet and came?” she asked.

 “He could have brought Ebola here. Someone else could bring Ebola here,” Decontee said.

  The risk of travelers contracting Ebola is considered low because it requires direct contact with bodily fluids or secretions such as urine, blood, sweat or saliva, experts say. Ebola can’t be spread like flu through casual contact or breathing in the same air. Patients are contagious only once the disease has progressed to the point they show symptoms, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

  And the most vulnerable are health care workers and relatives who come in much closer contact with the sick.

  The late Sawyer married his wife in December 2008, in Coon Rapids.

 The couple who both hold US citizenship, are originally from Liberia and Decontee arrived in the country with her family in 1991 and Patrick came in the early 2000s.

  They are part of the large Liberian community in Minnesota, who moved there in the aftermath of the nation’s two civil wars in the 1980s and late 1990s.