WHO declares Nigeria free of Ebola

GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization declared Nigeria free of Ebola on Monday.

The health agency's announcement comes after the West African country saw no new Ebola cases for a requisite period of 42 days.

Nigeria reported its first Ebola case on July 20, when a Liberian traveler arrived in Lagos from Sierra Leone. Patrick Sawyer, 40, collapsed after his arrival at the Lagos Airport and died five days later from the disease, which he seems to have contracted from his sister, who had a confirmed case of Ebola in Liberia.

Sawyer denied contact with any Ebola patients and claimed he was suffering from malaria. The medical staff that treated him, believing he was not infectious, did not take protective precautions. "Over the coming days, 9 doctors and nurses became infected and 4 of them died," WHO noted.

Once Sawyer was confirmed to have died from Ebola, Dr. Rui Vaz, who heads WHO's country office in Nigeria, advised "All required resources must be immediately mobilized to stop this outbreak." WHO credits Nigerian officials for responding quickly to the crisis.

In its announcement Monday, the health agency reflected on what helped Nigeria stem a potentially explosive outbreak scenario.

"To a large extent, the answer is straightforward: the country's strong leadership and effective coordination of the response. The Nigerian response to the outbreak was greatly aided by the rapid utilization of a national public institution (NCDC) and the prompt establishment of an Emergency Operations Centre, supported by the Disease Prevention and Control Cluster within the WHO country office.

"Another key asset was the country's first-rate virology laboratory affiliated with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. That laboratory was staffed and equipped to quickly and reliably diagnose a case of Ebola virus disease, which ensured that containment measures could begin with the shortest possible delay.

"In addition, high-quality contact tracing by experienced epidemiologists expedited the early detection of cases and their rapid movement to an isolation ward, thereby greatly diminishing opportunities for further transmission."

WHO declared Senegal Ebola-free on Friday.