“We are starting to ramp up our staffing in Lagos,” US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner told AFP.
“We are really concerned about Lagos and the potential for
spread there, given the fact that Lagos — and Nigeria for that matter — has
never seen Ebola.”
Nigeria became the fourth West African country involved in
the largest Ebola outbreak in history when a dual US-Liberian citizen who was
infected with Ebola traveled by plane to Lagos on July 20. He died five days
later.
Eight people who came in contact with him have been
diagnosed with Ebola, and two have died.
Ebola has killed 932 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia
and Nigeria since March, and has infected more than 1,700 according to the
World Health Organization.
Experts say Ebola is out of control in West Africa, and the
WHO on Friday declared the epidemic an international health emergency and
appealed for global aid.
In Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan declared the control
and containment of the Ebola virus “a national emergency,” his office said in a
statement.
He urged people to avoid large gatherings, and approved the
release of $11.6 million to fund measures against the spread of the virus,
including setting up isolation centers and increasing screening at borders.
No comments:
Post a Comment