Another Ebola Case Confirmed In Nigeria

The Minister of Health in Nigeria, Onyebuchi Chukwu has confirmed that the number of confirmed Ebola cases in Nigeria has risen by one to 11.

The minister made this statement on Thursday, 14 August, 2014, in Abuja, saying that the figure includes three deaths and eight people who are being treated at a special isolation unit set up in Lagos.

Health Minister Chukwu

P.M NEWS reports that though Nigeria has not recorded a case outside Lagos but there were fears that a nurse who was infected in the city may have carried the virus to Enugu State.

It was gathered that the nurse was among those who treated Liberian government employee, Patrick Sawyer, who brought Ebola to Lagos on 20 July, 2014. The late Sawyer later died at a hospital in Obalende area of Lagos on 25 July.

A source was quoted to have said that the nurse traveled to Enugu, where she began showing symptoms before being transported back to Lagos for treatment.

Health officials stated on Wednesday, 13 August, 2014, that 21 people who had contact with the nurse in Enugu were being monitored.

But according to Chukwu on Thursday, 15 of those people had been cleared, with only six people are still being watched in Enugu.

The number of people under surveillance for possible infection in Lagos was reduced from 177 to 169 overnight, Chukwu added.

The latest news is believed to be a positive one for health workers in Africa’s most populous country, as a spread of the outbreak beyond Lagos would put significant strain on Nigeria’s weak healthcare system.

The virus has a maximum incubation of 21 days, so anyone who does not become symptomatic within three weeks of exposure is thought to be safe.

According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, the Ebola virus has killed more than 1,069 people since the start of the year in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, who became the fourth West African country affected last month.