Ebola, one of the world's most fatal diseases, has surfaced in Africa's most populous country.
Nigerian health officials have announced 10 confirmed cases and two deaths in the country from the Ebola outbreak that is sweeping West Africa, including a nurse and a man from Liberia whom the nurse had been caring for.
The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency that requires an extraordinary response to stop its spread. (Aug. 8) AP Video
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Dr. Sheik Umar Khan is being hailed as a national hero by Sierra Leone for his efforts to combat the worst outbreak of Ebola on record. Dr. Khan himself succumbed to the disease on Tuesday. Deborah Gembara reports. Reuters
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The man, Patrick Sawyer, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had flown to Nigeria in late July and died soon after. He had infected at least seven other people, including the nurse, who died Aug. 5, officials said.
By Friday, President Goodluck Jonathan had declared a state of emergency, officially adding Nigeria, home to more than 160 million people, to the list of nations struggling to control one of the largest public-health emergencies in recent history. More than 900 people have died.
The story of Mr. Sawyer, who according to Nigerian newspaper accounts was aware that he was sick when he left Liberia, demonstrates just how difficult containing the disease will be in the modern age of rapid travel and growing urbanization. Nigeria has Africa's largest economy and is deeply connected to the outside world, a fact that could magnify the consequences if the outbreak is not contained.
'Rapid epidemic transmission has been with us a long time, but my guess is that it's accelerating, with the number of people on the move and intensity of air travel, global trade and the numbers of displaced people we have globally,' said Jeffrey Sachs, an economist and the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Health officials emphasized that Nigeria still had only a few confirmed Ebola cases - 10 as of Sunday, with two deaths - and that its government had mobilized substantial forces to try to stop the spread of the disease.
David Daigle, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's effort in Nigeria, said the ministers of health and information were on hand Friday for the opening of an emergency operation centre in Lagos, a sign that the government was treating the situation seriously.
'The Nigerians understand the magnitude of the problem here,' said Frank Mahoney, an epidemiologist who has been leading the CDC's Ebola response in Lagos.
Still, he said, international health officials are undertaking a substantial effort in Nigeria, motivated by what might happen if the disease, which had been confined to remote forests and villages in decades past, starts to spread in one of Africa's most densely populated countries.
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