World Health Organization has
declared Nigeria Ebola-free — after more than six weeks without a new case of
the disease that has claimed the lives of more than 4,500 people in West
Africa, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
“Nigeria is now free of Ebola,”
WHO representative Rui Gama Vaz told a news conference in the capital
Abuja. “This is a spectacular success story … It shows that Ebola can be
contained but we must be clear that we have only won a battle. The war will
only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola.”
The last
reported case in Nigeria was confirmed Sept. 8. The nation’s response to Ebola
is being held out as an example to the still-stricken West
African nations, as well to Texas.
Ebola hit
Nigeria in July when an American-Liberian citizen, Patrick Sawyer, was
diagnosed in Lagos with the disease — and Nigerian officials quickly declared a
public health emergency. Sawyer later died.
It was a
nightmare scenario with the potential to spiral out of control, given the
bustling city of Lagos, Africa’s largest, is a major transportation hub.
In total,
Nigeria reported 20 people with Ebola, according to WHO. Eight
of them died. But John Vertefeuille, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, said Nigeria took the right steps to stop it.
“Nigeria
acted quickly and early and on a large scale” Vertefeuille told Agence
France-Presse. “They acted aggressively, especially in terms of
contact-tracing.”
Last week,
WHO announced Senegal was free of the disease. The infection was brought
to Senegal in August by a man who had traveled by road from Guinea to Dakar.
The government of Senegal identified more than 70 people who had come in
contact with the man and began testing anyone considered at high risk. On Sept.
5, the man tested negative, recovered and later returned to Guinea, according
to a statement from WHO.
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