Nigeria records first case of Ebola
The first case of Ebola virus in Nigeria has been documented in Lagos, the country's largest city, sparking fears that an epidemic, which has been slowly spreading through West Africa for months, may reach a new stage where it spreads exponentially faster.
The CBC reports that the victim was a Liberian man in his 40s. Upon arriving in Lagos on a flight from Liberia, he collapsed at the airport. He was then rushed to a local hospital and held in quarantine until his death.
Liberia, along with Guinea and Sierra Leone, has been the epicenter of the current Ebola outbreak. There have been 1,093 confirmed cases and 660 fatalities since this most recent outbreak was identified in February of 2014. Ebola is one of the world's deadliest diseases, with a mortality rate ranging from 30 to 90 percent depending upon the strain. The current outbreak has a mortality rate of around 60 percent.
Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said that all locations of official entry into Nigeria have been put on the highest possible alert to keep an eye out for individuals who may be carrying the disease. She also said that officials are now trying to locate and monitor everyone who may have come into contact with the afflicted individual.
The disease spreads when people come into contact with the bodily fluids of the infected. Symptoms of the disease include vomiting, diarrhea, and bleeding both internally and externally. The most famous and horrifying symptom of the disease is when people begin to bleed from the eyes.
Compounding worries about the disease's rapid spread is the fact that a family in Freetown, Sierra Leone forcibly removed their daughter from quarantine at a local hospital, according to the CBC. Radio stations in the area around the city of 1 million broadcast messages asking for help in locating her.
