Doctor who treated U.S. businessman who died from Ebola is also killed by the virus in Nigeria as first case reaches Saudi Arabia
- More than 932 deaths now in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria
- Patrick Sawyer not treated as Ebola patient and isolated for 24 hours
- American was traveling on a business flight to Nigeria when he fell ill
- Saudi Arabian confirm death of man, 40, being tested for Ebola virus
- Had returned from Sierra Leone, where at least 286 people have died
A Nigerian nurse who treated a man with Ebola is now dead and five others are sick with the disease, authorities revealed today - as the death toll in West Africa rose to at least 932 people.
The growing number of cases in Lagos comes as authorities said they did not treat Patrick Sawyer as an Ebola patient and isolate him for the first 24 hours after his arrival in Nigeria last month.
Mr Sawyer, a 40-year-old American of Liberian descent with a wife and three young daughters in Minnesota, was traveling on a business flight to Nigeria when he fell ill.
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Nigerian medics (left) are on high alert after a doctor who treated U.S. businessman Patrick Sawyer (pictured, right,
with his daughter Ava) for Ebola was confirmed as the second person to contract the virus in the country
The death of the nurse marks the second Ebola death in Nigeria, and this worries health experts as it is the Africa's most populous country and Lagos, where the deaths occurred, one of its biggest cities.
Ben Webster, a Red Cross disaster response manager in London, said it is ‘critically important’ that people displaying symptoms are identified quickly.
He added: ‘It's impossible to say whether this specific situation could have been avoided.
‘But there is certainly more likelihood of travellers coming from an Ebola-affected country in the region and authorities need to be aware, even if the infrastructure and situation is challenging.’
In Saudi Arabia officials say a man who was being tested for the Ebola virus has died.
The 40-year-old returned on Sunday from Sierra Leone, where at least 286 people have died from Ebola, and was then hospitalised in Jeddah after showing symptoms of the viral haemorrhagic fever.
Has the disease spread to the Middle East? Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry says a man who was being tested for the Ebola virus and was
in critical condition in an isolation ward in Jiddah (pictured) has died
Spain's Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said a medically-equipped Airbus 310 is ready to fly to Liberia to repatriate a Spanish missionary priest who has Ebola.
The ministry said today that preparations for the flight are being finalised but it is not yet known what time the plane will take off.
'It makes you nervous when so many people are potentially at risk'
Stephen Morse, Columbia University
The priest, Miguel Pajares, is one of three missionaries in isolation at the San Jose de Monrovia Hospital in Liberia who have tested positive for the virus, a Catholic humanitarian group said.
There have now been at least 1,711 cases of Ebola this year, which has no proven vaccine or treatment, according to new figures released today by the World Health Organization.
More than 932 people had died in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria as of Monday. The WHO noted in particular that ‘community resistance remains high’ in Liberia.
Many fearful family members are refusing to bring sick relatives to isolation centres, preferring to treat them at home and pray for their survival as no proven cure or treatment exists for Ebola.
Ebola (pictured) can only be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is sick - blood, semen, saliva, urine, feces or sweat
The difficulties in quarantining sick people are complicating efforts to stop Ebola's spread.
In Nigeria, the five people now infected from Mr Sawyer would not have been contagious to their neighbours or relatives until they started showing symptoms of their own, health experts say.
The delay in enforcing infection control measures, though, is another setback in the battle to stamp out the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
The spectre of the virus spreading through Nigeria is particularly alarming, said Stephen Morse, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
‘It makes you nervous when so many people are potentially at risk,’ he said.
Lagos is a bewildering combination of wealth and abject poverty, awash in luxury SUVs and decrepit buses alike that carry passengers through hours of crowded traffic on the bridges linking the city's islands to the mainland.
Nearly 900 deaths are now blamed on Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Pictured is a map showing global health
issues at the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Ebola can only be transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is sick - blood, semen, saliva, urine, faeces or sweat.
Millions live in cramped conditions without access to flushable toilets, and signs posted across the megacity tell people not to urinate in public.
Authorities in Liberia said Mr Sawyer's sister had recently died of Ebola, though Mr Sawyer said he had not had close contact with her while she was ill.
In announcing his death, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu maintained that Nigerian officials had been vigilant.
‘It was right there (at the airport) that the problem was noticed because we have maintained our surveillance,’ he told reporters.
‘And immediately, he went into the custody of the port health services of the federal ministry of health so there was no time for him to mingle in Lagos.
Liberian children lay flowers in memory of all Liberians who have died of the Ebola virus at the Women in Peace building Program
prayer ground in Monrovia
‘He has not been in touch with any other person again since we took him from the airport.’
But yesterday, the Lagos state health commissioner said they did not suspect Ebola immediately and it was only after about 24 hours in the hospital that they identified him as a possible Ebola case.
‘They went back to the history and they were like “Oh, this is Liberia”, and that's why he was put into isolation,’ Lagos state health commissioner Jide Idris told reporters.
‘So even in that window period it was possible that some of these people got infected.’
Nigeria was among the countries present at a regional meeting of health officials in Ghana at the beginning of July where they agreed to step up surveillance of potential Ebola cases and quickly share information with the WHO.
Mr Sawyer, who had a fever and was vomiting on the plane, was coming from the infected country of Liberia but had a layover in Togo.
Volunteers prepare to remove the bodies of people who were suspected of contracting Ebola and died in the village of Pendebu, north
of Kenema, in Sierra Leone
As a result, officials may not have initially known his original point of departure and it was unclear whether he was traveling on a Liberian or American passport.
Experts say people infected with Ebola can spread the disease only through their bodily fluids and after they show symptoms.
Since the incubation period can last up to three weeks, some of the Nigerians who treated Mr Sawyer are only now showing signs of illness that can mimic many common tropical illnesses - fever, muscle aches and vomiting.
The national health minister said today that special tents would be used to speed up the establishment of isolation wards in all of Nigeria's states.
Authorities are setting up an emergency centre in Lagos to deal with Ebola that will be ‘fully functional’ by today, he said.
‘We are embarking on recruiting additional health personnel to strengthen the team who are currently managing the situation in Lagos,’ said his statement.
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