Tension has risen in Nigeria as the country’s health ministry confirmed a second case of the deadly Ebola virus after the doctor who treated the country’s first victim tested positive to the virus.
“Three others who participated in that treatment who are currently symptomatic have had their samples taken and hopefully by the end of today we should have the results of their own test,” said Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, while confirming the new case.
According to him, the ministry is working together with other agencies to trace and quarantine others, who might have been infected following the first confirmed case of infection.
Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American man who died July 25, days after
arriving in Nigeria from Liberia had been treated by the doctor, whose name cannot be immediately confirmed.
The emergence of a second case has raised serious concerns about the infection control practices in the country and how much more would the deadly virus spread, bearing in mind that it can take up to 21 days after exposure to the virus for symptoms to appear.
A total of 70 people are said to be under surveillance, with eight hoped to have been quarantined by the end of Monday (today), in an isolation ward in Lagos.
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