(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75306000/jpg/_75306515_line976.jpg) (http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73804000/jpg/_73804190_fruitbat3.jpg) Fruit bats are believed to be a major carrier of the Ebola virus but do not show symptoms Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)
- Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
- Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55%
- Incubation period is two to 21 days
- There is no vaccine or cure
- Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
- Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75306000/jpg/_75306515_line976.jpg) Ebola was taken to Nigeria by Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American man who travelled to Lagos before dying.
One of his contacts evaded Nigeria's surveillance team and travelled to Port Harcourt, where he sought medical treatment, Health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.
Although the man later recovered, the doctor who treated him died and tests showed he had Ebola, the minister said.
The doctor who treated Mr Sawyer also died.
More than 240 health workers have been infected with Ebola - a rate which the World Health Organization (WHO) said was "unprecedented".
It noted that in many cases protective suits, even rubber gloves and face masks, were not available.
The doctor becomes the sixth fatality in Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous country.
On Wednesday, Nigeria announced that schools would not reopen until 13 October in order to try and contain the disease.
(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/75306000/jpg/_75306515_line976.jpg) Nigerian voices: Ali Sadiq, public servant based in Abuja "The postponement of the schools' resumption by the federal government is a good move but the extension is too long. I can't imagine my two kids wasting six more weeks at home. Two to three weeks would have been enough for all that."
Mixed reaction to Nigeria schools closure (http://www.theinfostride.com/news/world-africa-28954406)
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Source: BBC