Newly wed nurse is Ebola case No 10

A newly wed nurse who treated Patrick Sawyer in hospital is the 10th confirmed case to test positive for Ebola virus disease, 22 days after the disease hit Nigeria.

The nurse joined seven others in quarantine and treatment after she was diagnosed at the weekend, but her husband is under surveillance, health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said.

Some 177 people are now under surveillance, up from 139 announced Friday.

Treatement of the eight people quarantined in past weeks has primarily involved antibiotics, electrolytes replacement to combat dehydration in the absence of definite response from the US for experimental drug ZMapp, which was administered to two American doctors who contracted the virus in Liberia.

But Chukwu said the eight on treatment were responding and getting "ready to go."

Case fatality rate for Ebola in Nigeria still is under 30% in Nigeria, compared with 55% in the three other affected countries in West Africa where death toll from the disease nears 1,000.

Chukwu said Nigeria and its partners in the subregion would continue struggle against ebola but would not close its borders until it absolutely has to.

He ruled out possibility that Sawyer's deliberate evasion of authorities and trip which imported Ebola to Nigeria would be construed as a diplomatic incident.

 

"The Liberian Government has expressed its deepest sympathies and regrets that Mr. Sawyer had even embarked on this tragic journey, which has brought needless sufferings, death and has placed an unnecessary stress on our health system," he said.

"In the same spirit, we share in solidarity, the grief of the governments and people of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone as we confront this challenge together."