Saturday, 16 August 2014
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Ebola virus
The body of the first victim of Ebola Virus
Disease in Nigeria, who died in Lagos on
Friday, has been cremated.
Details of the cremation were not available
at press time but Sunday Vanguard
gathered that the eveny was witnessed by
officials of the Lagos State Ministry of
Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease
Control, NCDC, led by its Project Director,
Professor Abdulsalam Nasidi, among
others.
The decision to cremate the body of the
victim, it was further gathered, may not be
unconnected with the deadly nature of the
Ebola Virus which is known to be easily
transmissible from human to human during
handling of corpses of victims.
The World Health Organisation recommends
that in communities where there is an
outbreak of Ebola, appropriate containment
measures including burial of the dead
should be properly handled.
While stating that people who die from
Ebola should be promptly and safely
buried, WHO? notes that cremation, which
is the application of high temperature to
reduce bodies to basic chemical
components (ashes),? is ideal for safe
disposal of bodies of persons who die
during outbreaks of highly infectious
diseases such as Ebola Virus in order to
minimise further transmission.
In 2013 the Lagos State Government
introduced its Voluntary Cremation Law
under which a person may signify interest
to be cremated at death or a deceased’s
family members who must attain the age
of 18 years, can decide to have the corpse
cremated.
Under the law the state government can
also cremate unclaimed corpses in its
mortuaries after a period of time and the
ashes disposed after a 14-day notice with
approval of the Commissioner for Health
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