ABUJA (Science & Technology Report) – The former Minister of Science and Technology, Turner Isoun (Professor) has advocated for strict scientific approach in dealing with the current Ebola epidemic.
Turner Isoun, who commended government’s role so far in confronting the disease in a reaction to the scourge, urged the scientific community to mobilise and assist the nation to find solutions to the spread of the virus. “Ebola is a viral infectious disease though new to West Africa but had been experienced in East Africa in the past. The important thing for us to do here is to give out proper information on the disease,” he said.
The renowned professor, who was Nigerian’s longest, served Minister of Science and Technology condemned the rumour which urged Nigerians to bathe with salt water, saying the scientific community, especially the Nigerian Academy of Science, must be proactive and champion the nation’s efforts to find solutions to the problem.
“The rumour about bathing with salt water is baseless and borne out of ignorance. We must avoid a situation where dubious people take advantage of the situation and mislead unsuspecting Nigerians,” he added. He noted that Nigeria must begin to invest in highly sophisticated molecular biology laboratory, knowing that Ebola and other diseases that emanate from animals would continue to threaten Africans because of the existing game forests.
“The Ebola victims taken to the US were taken to a high level security containment laboratory built 12 years ago. That is to show that the US planned ahead, indicating that we must not wait until we have an outbreak before setting up facilities like that,” he added.
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