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.
In southern Nigeria, 200 people have been identified as having been exposed to the ill doctor and are being monitored, WHO said. About 60 of those are considered at a high risk of getting Ebola.