The Nigerian doctor who treated a Liberian man for Ebola in Lagos has tested positive for the deadly virus, Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu told a news conference on Monday.
“As of today, one of the doctors that treated the late Mr Sawyer has tested positive for the Ebola virus,” he said.
Of 70 people who were under surveillance, eight had been “quarantined at an isolation ward provided by the Lagos state government,” he added.
Patrick Sawyer, the first recorded case of the disease in Nigeria, flew into Lagos en-route Calabar for an official assignment but fell ill in the aircraft.
Eight persons are believed to have had “first degree contact” with Sawyer before he got to the hospital. Chukwu said the eight persons have been quarantined and are under strict observation.
Three other people who treated the fatal case in Nigeria are showing symptoms and are undergoing tests, Chukwu said. Nigeria reviews on a daily basis its decision to keep the country’s borders open, he said.
It is however important to note that this new recorded infection is directly related to the individual that imported the virus in the Nigeria in July.
So far, 729 people have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, according to World Health Organization data but the agency has warned that the disease is spreading faster than efforts to control it.
The latest outbreak began in the forests of remote eastern Guinea in February. The arrival of one of the world’s deadliest diseases in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and its most populous country, with 170 million people, has caused panic. Lagos is Africa’s biggest city, with 21 million people, and one of the world’s most crowded, with poor healthcare infrastructure.
