Dr Muhammed Pate, the Minister of State for Health on Wednesday in Abuja, said that Nigeria was not at risk following the outbreak of Ebola virus in Uganda.
Pate told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the country had a strengthened infectious disease surveillance system.
“Regarding Ebola virus in Uganda, I understand that we are not considered at risk.
“But regardless of that, we have strengthened infectious disease surveillance system through which diseases like cholera, Lassa fever, meningitis, polio and others are routinely monitored and reported.”
He said the country would continue to focus on improving the core public health functions in the sector.
The encyclopaedia says the Ebola virus (EBOV) causes severe disease in humans and in non-human primates in the form of viral haemorrhagic fever.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) also outlined the key facts about the virus causing severe viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF) outbreak in humans, saying that it has a fatality rate of up to 90 per cent.
According to WHO, Ebola haemorrhagic fever outbreaks occur primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.
“Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are considered to be the natural host of the Ebola virus and there is no treatment or vaccine available for either people or animals,’’ WHO further said. (NAN)