EBOLA Outbreak Thread

[morningfog]

63. Nigeria details, good info here:

Nigerian health authorities acknowledged Tuesday that they did not immediately quarantine a sick airline passenger who later died of Ebola, announcing that eight health workers who had direct contact with him were now in isolation with symptoms of the disease.

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Initially authorities told reporters that the risk of any exposure to others was minimal because Sawyer was whisked into isolation after arriving at the airport with symptoms of Ebola.

But Lagos state health commissioner Jide Idris said Tuesday that the nature of his disease "was not known" the first day, and only after further investigation did they suspect Ebola. Sawyer's sister had died in Liberia from the disease, which has no proven cure or treatment.

"They went back to the history and they were like 'Oh, this is Liberia,' and that's why he was put into isolation," he told reporters. "So even in that window period it was possible that some of these people got infected."

A doctor who cared for Sawyer has tested positive for the disease, and seven other health workers are now showing symptoms so have been placed in isolation. They are among 14 people who had "serious direct contact" with Sawyer, most of them at the hospital, Idris said. Authorities say they are also following the conditions of 56 other people who had "primary contact" with Sawyer — presumably less at risk than those in the first group.

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2014/08/05/nigeria-acknowledges-slow-response-in-ebola-case