…Advocates return to COVID-19 protocols
By Admin
Amid global apprehension over another pandemic with the Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) ravaging China, and spreading to at least five other countries, a medical research scientist and lecturer in the department of veterinary microbiology, University of Abuja, Dr. Casmir Ifeanyi, has advocated a return to the COVID-19 protocols as a proactive measure to contain the disease should it spread to Nigeria. Dr. Ifeanyi said we have every reason to be agitated as a nation because a disease in any part of the world is a disease everywhere in the world.
Stating that HMPV had been around for over six decades and therefore not a new disease, he described it as a viral disease which etiologic agent is a pneumonic virus with ability to mutate.
Speaking on Arise TV Newsnight on Thursday monitored by Newsmata, the former National President, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) recalled that “Four years ago, thereabout, at about the same time, between November to December, going into the yuletide season, we had the denied and later accepted outbreak of COVID-19 coming from the same region, the same country about the same time.
“Anything happening in China, the world should be alarmed because China is a global hub for education now, a melting pot for commerce so, all parts of the world coalesce. Even the world powers go to China to produce for consumption in their home countries. So, China is a global hub, and if a disease of this nature that is airborne and it’s happening again in China, the whole world would need to roll up their sleeves and get ready.
“Why are we really going to be worried? This is something that was just discovered in China. As we speak today, it has spread to more than five countries. It’s gone to France, it’s gone to Australia, it’s gone to United Kingdom, it’s gone to Germany”.
Consequently, he said it was time for people to again, begin to consider the use of face masks, hand washing, and how they sneeze, and cover their nose. Stressing that there is a whole lot we needed to do moving forward, Dr. Ifeanyi emphasised that “building capacity and expanding laboratory testing capacity is the sine qua non for containing any kind of disease that may come”.
While stating that anything like COVID would not take the world and Nigeria unawares, he further suggested that “what we really need to do a whole lot of investment into infection prevention, control measures and mechanisms”, adding, “we must begin to train healthcare workers especially clinical service providers, med-labs scientists, physicians, nurses, and others.
“And we also need to educate members of the public on how to actively prevent infections of all types, not just when we have one like this, we start doing a fire brigade approach. Learning from COVID, we should know that once you hear of any outbreak that is respiratory related, it means you are going to take up your kits and guards as you had during COVID”.
Acknowledging the efforts by the Federal Ministry of Health, and the Nigerian Center for Disease Control, (NCDC) Dr. Ifeanyi noted that “They are not laid back at all in this matter. The Honorable Minister of State, Dr. Ishak Salako just left here and I’m happy he’s up and about providing information and then dousing tension and guiding Nigerians aright on what government of the day is doing.
“And so, we are not laid back. I do not think the country will be caught napping. The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control had also evaluated their data working in concert with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, looked at the Nigerian Influenza Sentinel Surveillance (NISS) system, and on the basis of that data, they’ve been able to classify our risk profile as a nation to the Human metapneumovirus, (HMPV) and they’ve said categorically, in terms of risk, it’s moderate.
“So, what I used to say is that if we’re on a moderate categorisation for HMPV, it simply means we’ve exited the low risk. And if that is the case, we must activate our hybrid preparedness; all the hybrid preparedness and mechanisms need to be activated. What are they?
“In global Health security, number one in preparedness is the ability to detect. So, we must therefore overhaul the laboratories we were able to develop at the advent of COVID in Nigeria. Before COVID, we had very weak laboratory system with respect to detecting highfalutin diseases and outbreaks of this nature.
“Before COVID, all outbreak we had in Nigeria, we had to ferry samples to smaller countries like Senegal for confirmation. But from COVID till date, we now have in-country capacity in this regard. So, all we need to do is to make sure that these systems are up and running. At a time, I was in a sister station, and I found that the fact that some of the molecular testing laboratories that were provided for in some tertiary health institutions were gathering dust. It need not be so. So, I am happy that this is coming, and it will afford us the opportunity to optimise them to real time use”.
On how the country leveraged on COVID-19 to improve on her health facilities, Dr. ifeanyi noted that “Before COVID, we had less than four Laboratories in Nigeria, with capacity for molecular testing for outbreaks of this nature: that of COVID, even things like meningitis, Lassa fever and all that. So, with COVID, that less than four was upgraded and expanded to over 90 before we got over with COVID, and that 90 included both public and private.
“And these Labs and facilities for testing are there and they are working. And that’s why the NCDC had said that one of the things they’ve done as response preparedness is to activate and optimise the activities in the testing centres that are contiguous to routes of entry, portals of entry for international travel”.