WHO confirms new Ebola death
July 25, 2014
Nigerian officials announced on Friday that a Liberian national died of Ebola while under quarantine in Lagos. The man, who collapsed on arrival at the airport in Lagos on Thursday, had been kept in isolation by authorities and did not enter the city of 21 million people. Friday's death means the current outbreak of Ebola in Africa has reached Nigeria - with 170 million people, the continent's most populous country and its biggest economy.
"The patient was subjected to thorough medical tests ... which confirmed the virus of Ebola," Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu told journalists on Friday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 1,093 cases to date in West Africa's first outbreak of Ebola, which causes hemorrhagic fever. Symptoms include elevated body temperature, dizziness, muscle aches, loss of strength and exhaustion.
"He departed on the plane initially with no symptoms," WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said on Friday, shortly before the man died. "He reported being symptomatic on arrival. I understand that he was vomiting and he then turned himself over basically: He made it known that he wasn't feeling well. Nigerian health authorities took him and put him in isolation."
African nations are working together to stop the outbreak, but the virus has continued to spread. Germany has set to work on a contingency plan should the Ebola outbreak reach Europe.
A WHO expert has said that awareness is one of the most important tools in stopping the outbreak.
mkg/tj (Reuters, AFP)