The World Health Organization declared Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, officially free of Ebola infections yesterday, 20th October, 2014, calling the outcome the triumphal result of “world-class epidemiological detective work.”
The announcement came 42 days after the last reported infection inNigeria’s outbreak, twice the maximum incubation period for the Ebola virus.
The Nigerian response was upheld and praised by the W.H.O. as an example of the measures other countries can take to halt the spread of the epidemic, which is concentrated in three West African countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. “This is a spectacular success story that shows that Ebola can be contained,” the W.H.O. said in a report on its website. But it also expressed caution that Nigeria cannot
relax its defenses against the deadly virus.
More than 9,000 people have become infected in the epidemic, over 4,500 people have died, and the number of infections is still doubling every month, the W.H.O. has reported. Although infection rates have slowed in some districts of the three worst affected countries, the organization has also reported the spread of the disease to new areas, including districts of Guinea bordering Ivory Coast.
Nigeria’s success in averting that outcome started with the action of Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, a doctor at First Consultant Hospital in Lagos who diagnosed the Ebola virus in Mr. Sawyer (the Liberian-American who brought the virus to the shores of Nigeria) and later died of the disease. Together with Benjamin Ohiaeri, the hospital director, Dr. Adadevoh had insisted on keeping Mr. Sawyer isolated despite threats of legal action by Liberian officials demanding his release.
Other important Nigerian actions cited by the W.H.O. included the quick response and close coordination of public health authorities and international organizations to isolate and treat patients, and the detective work of contact tracing teams. The teams drew on the experience of Nigeria’s anti-polio program to identify and monitor on a daily basis nearly 900 people who had contact with those infected with the disease.
Still, Nigeria, like Senegal, which was declared free of Ebola on Friday, is susceptible to new cases by virtue of its proximity to the West African epicenter, health authorities warn. Nigeria also is at risk of becoming a victim of its own success.
The W.H.O.’s representative in Nigeria, Rui Gama Vaz, said Ebola patients in the epicenter may now seek entry to Nigeria in an effort to get lifesaving care. “Many desperate people in heavily affected countries believe that Nigeria must have some especially good — maybe even ‘magical’ — treatments to offer,” a W.H.O. statement said.
SOURCE:
THE NEWYORK TIMES
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