A Nigerian medical expert has identified ewedu, a popular vegetable in Yorubaland and parts of Igboland, as a potent cure for the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Ewedu, which is mainly used for making soup, is known as ahahara in Igbo and as long-fruited vegetable in English.

The vegetable is capable of preventing and curing Ebola by boosting the immune system, Prof. Adebukola Ositelu, a consultant at the Lagos University Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, has said.

A report this morning in Daily Sun quotes her as making the claim yesterday at the annual African Traditional Medicine Day organised by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) at Ikeja, Lagos.

The report quotes Ositelu, who is a professor of ‎Ophthalmology at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), as prescribing the following processes for preparing the ewedu remedy:

*First, thoroughly rinse the ewedu with liquid vinegar

*For prevention: “Blend and cook with drinkable water, without adding salt or kaun (pottash) or any other ingredients; then take a 25cl or half a tumbler measure once a week, first thing in the morning before any meal.”

*For treatment by those already infected: Take it every morning for seven to five days.

Prof. Ositelu, however, explained that chances of being cured by an intake of ewedu when a victim has gotten to the stage of vomiting was low.

News Express reports that a famous Nigerian pharmacologist, Prof. Maurice Iwu, had earlier reported the prospects of using a medical preparation from bitter kola to cure Ebola.

EVD officially has no known cure but countries such as Nigeria, the United States of America and Britain have reported great success of treating Ebola victims. As at the last count, eight Nigerian Ebola patients had been successfully treated and discharged.

Ebola was imported into Nigeria on July 24, 2014 by late Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer but has been vigorously tackled by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, which declared a national emergency in view of the havoc which the disease has wreaked in other West African countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

The World Health Organization (WHO) puts the number of people who have died from Ebola in West Africa at more than 1,900.

•Photo shows Ewedu.

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