The World Health Organisation declared Nigeria
free of the deadly Ebola
virus on Monday after six weeks with no new cases, an achievement with
lessons for countries still struggling to contain the deadly virus.
This year's Ebola outbreak, the worst on record, has killed 4,546 people
across the three most-affected countries, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Its
arrival in Lagos, an overcrowded city of 21 million people, sparked
fears of a doomsday scenario in which it becomes impossible to contain
because contacts are too diffuse to trace.
As the commercial hub of Africa's most populous nation, largest economy and
leading energy producer, it would have been an ideal springboard for Ebola
to spread across the country.
The first case in Nigeria was imported from Liberia when Liberian-American
diplomat Patrick Sawer collapsed at the main international airport in Lagos
on July 20.
Authorities were caught unawares, airport staff were not prepared and the government had not set up any hospital isolation unit, so he was able to infect several people, including health workers in the hospital where he was taken.
But they acted fast after the doctor on duty, who later herself died of the disease, quarantined him in the hospital against his will and contacted officials.
Doctor Ameyo Adadevoh at the First Consultants hospital in Lagos where Sawyer was first brought kept him in the hospital despite his protests and those of the Liberian government, preventing the dying man from spreading it further, according to Benjamin Ohiaeri, a doctor there who survived the disease.
Ebola is much more contagious once symptoms become severe.
"We agreed that the thing to do was not to let him out of the hospital," Dr Ohiaeri said, even after he became aggressive and demanded to be set free.
"If we had let him out, within 24 hours of being here, he would have contacted and infected a lot more people ... The lesson there is: stand your ground."CONTINUE READING
CREDITS: Telegraph
Authorities were caught unawares, airport staff were not prepared and the government had not set up any hospital isolation unit, so he was able to infect several people, including health workers in the hospital where he was taken.
But they acted fast after the doctor on duty, who later herself died of the disease, quarantined him in the hospital against his will and contacted officials.
Doctor Ameyo Adadevoh at the First Consultants hospital in Lagos where Sawyer was first brought kept him in the hospital despite his protests and those of the Liberian government, preventing the dying man from spreading it further, according to Benjamin Ohiaeri, a doctor there who survived the disease.
Ebola is much more contagious once symptoms become severe.
"We agreed that the thing to do was not to let him out of the hospital," Dr Ohiaeri said, even after he became aggressive and demanded to be set free.
"If we had let him out, within 24 hours of being here, he would have contacted and infected a lot more people ... The lesson there is: stand your ground."CONTINUE READING
CREDITS: Telegraph
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