Nigeria declared Ebola-free
October 20, 2014
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Nigeria Ebola-free on Monday, after a 42-day period with no new cases. The 42 days represent two incubation periods for the virus.
"The virus is gone for now," WHO country representative Rui Gama Vaz said Monday in the capital, Abuja. "The outbreak in Nigeria has been defeated. This is a spectacular success story that shows to the world that Ebola can be contained."
On July 25, Nigeria's Health Ministry had confirmed that a US-Liberian dual citizen had died of Ebola in Lagos and quickly tracked down and isolated all who had contact with the man, whose condition was caught at the airport.
Nigeria's success in containing Ebola represents a rare success story in West Africa, where more than 9,200 people have become infected and 4,500 have died, almost all of them in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. However, fears of contagion have grown across the world, especially in the United States, where three cases were diagnosed - a patient and two health care workers who treated him - and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has compared the current outbreak to the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.
'Very short window'
EU nations have begun working out a unified response to the current Ebola outbreak, including finding 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to help fight the virus. Foreign ministers began a week of talks on Monday in Luxembourg, hoping that the 28 member states might agree by Friday on a package of measures that could include anything from financial aid to common repatriation procedures, on-site treatment facilities in infection zones and training for health workers.
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called the billion euros an urgent priority because "we've got a very short window to get on top of it and prevent the uncontrollable spread of the disease."
Ahead of the talks, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the bloc should consider sending "a civilian EU mission" to West Africa. The Netherlands announced that it could send a frigate to the area to help out.
The opening of the talks on Monday came hours after the announcement that the Spanish nurse Teresa Romero, the first person infected outside of Africa during the current outbreak, had tested negative for the virus.
mkg/ksb (Reuters, AFP, AP)