Ebola scare at OAU as student brought to Lagos for screening

Academic and social activities at Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, were yesterday paralysed following a report that one of the students, who had been on admission at the university’s teaching hospital, manifested signs of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD.

The management of the institution, however, said the student had been evacuated to Lagos, where she would undergo thorough screening to verify if she had actually contracted the dreaded disease.
There were rumours in most parts of Osun State, yesterday, that a student of the OAU, Ile-Ife contracted the virus and had been admitted at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital OAUTH, Ile-Ife.
A student of the university who preferred anonymity said a student who recently returned from Port Harcourt was in the early hours of yesterday rushed to the university’s health centre from where she was referred to the OAUTH after showing symptoms of EVD.
The “rumour” however spread quickly as parents and guardians of students were said to be making contacts with their wards and children over the development.
A source at the OAUTH told Vanguard that a patient who claimed to be student of OAU was admitted at the hospital yesterday.
The source, however, failed to explain whether the patient was diagnosed of EVD or not as she was silent on the result of the diagnosis carried out on the patient.
But the institution’s Public Relations Officer, PRO, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, said the rumoured outbreak of EVD in the university was false as it was yet to be clinically proved.
Giving detail, Olanrewaju said the female student was discovered to have had primary contact with an EVD victim in Port Harcourt, stressing that she fell sick when she arrived the university and was rushed to OAUTHC.
According to him, the student had been evacuated to Lagos, where she would undergo thorough screening to verify if she had actually contracted the disease.
While assuring that there was no established case of EVD in OAU until the result of the diagnosis to be carried out on the suspected student was released, Olanrewaju said the university community and the entire Ife town should not entertain any fear over the development.