Officials monitor 200 for Ebola in Nigeria

Source: AP-Excite

By HILARY UGURU

WARRI, Nigeria (AP) — Health officials are monitoring more than 200 people who may have been exposed to Ebola in southern Nigeria and are working non-stop to find more people at risk in a race to contain the disease's spread in Africa's most populous country.

Authorities had been cautiously optimistic that they would be able to keep Nigeria's outbreak relatively small. The sick Liberian-American who brought the disease to Nigeria by plane was quickly isolated and officials said they were successfully monitoring the people who were in contact with him.

But then last month, one of those contacts escaped surveillance and fled to the southern oil hub of Port Harcourt. He infected a doctor, who, in turn, exposed dozens of people to the disease when he continued treating patients after he began having Ebola symptoms, the World Health Organization has said.

Elsewhere in West Africa, the outbreak is spinning out of control, killing about 1,900 people so far, according to WHO. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have each recorded hundreds of deaths and the disease most recently spread to Senegal.

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Health workers place the body of a man, inside a plastic body bag, as he is suspected of dying due to the Ebola virus whilst a small crowd watch in Monrovia, Liberia, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014. As West Africa struggles to contain the biggest ever outbreak of Ebola, some experts say an unusual but simple treatment might help: the blood of survivors. The evidence is mixed for using infection-fighting antibodies from survivors' blood for Ebola, but without any licensed drugs or vaccines for the deadly disease, some say it's worth a shot. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)

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