Second Ebola case in Nigeria
August 4, 2014
Nigerian authorities confirmed on Monday that the country's second case of Ebola was a doctor. The physician had treated a Liberian-American man
who died of Ebola at the end of July.
"Three others who participated in that treatment who are currently symptomatic have had their samples taken and hopefully by the end of today we should have the results of their own test," said Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu.
Nigerian authorities also said a total of 70 people were under under surveillance and that they hoped to have eight people quarantined by the end of Monday in a Lagos isolation ward.
Nigera's deceased Ebola victim, Patrick Sawyer, died on July 25 in the country's largest city, Lagos, after flying in from Liberia five days earlier. The hospital where he died has been closed indefinitely. Liberia, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea, has been worst hit by the outbreak.
Symptoms of Ebola - such as fever, sore throat, muscle pains and headaches - can take as long as 21 days after exposure to appear.
The world's worst outbreak of the highly dangerous Ebola disease has already claimed the lives of 826 people, from 1,440 known cases in total across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
ksb/msh (AFP, AP)