Africas most populous country has reason to celebrate. According to Nigerias health ministry, the West African country has officially claimed control over the Ebola outbreak ravaging nearby nations, USA Today reported. No new cases of the virus have been reported since Aug. 31. Nigerias extensive response to a single case of Ebola shows that control is possible with rapid, focused interventions, Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told the news source. According to information from the CDC updated on Oct. 7, Nigeria has been downgraded to a Level 1 watch by the organization because of the decreased risk of Ebola transmission. Nigerias success has grabbed attention from U.S. officials hoping to prevent transmission of the virus in America, after Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas. On Wednesday, Duncan, 42, died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The CDC is sending researchers to Lagos, Nigerias largest city, to study how the country was able to control the disease. The Guardian reported that the ongoing struggle to eradicate polio in Nigeria -- recently complicated by Boko Harams insurgency -- actually helped the country in thwarting Ebola. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation built an emergency command center in 2012 to survey the presence of polio in the region, and the existing system helped enable the country to proactively contain the spread of Ebola. Utilizing emergency operations, healthcare personnel in Nigeria had confirmed 19 cases of Ebola, as well as one probable case, Reuters reported. By Sept. 24, officials had identified 894 contacts with those cases and conducted 18,500 visits with those whod potentially been infected to check for Ebola symptoms. In the weeks since, no new cases have emerged. one-nigeria.org/nigeria-has-successfully-contained-ebola-us-hopes-to-learn-from-their-response/
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 09:01:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015