Ameen Auwalii and Alpha Kamara, Special for USA TODAY 12:31 a.m. EDT October 9, 2014
nigeria ebola
(Photo: Sunday Alamba, AP)
LAGOS, Nigeria — People here are shaking hands again, kissing, hugging, touching. These days, shops are open, people are working, and children are finally going back to school.
That's because Nigeria — Africa's most populous country — is officially Ebola-free, the health ministry said, even as the deadly virus rages on in neighboring countries, where lockdowns and quarantines are common and death rates are rising.
USA TODAY
Ebola outbreak: Since first death in U.S., 5 things you need to know
As the United States and Spain deal with their first diagnosed cases of Ebola and fears that the virus could spread, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending researchers to Lagos to study how Nigeria was able to contain the disease. No new cases have been reported there since Aug. 31, the CDC said.
Nigeria's "extensive response to a single case of Ebola shows that control is possible with rapid, focused interventions," CDC Director Tom Frieden said.
Man with signs of Ebola claims contact with dead patient
Christine Afafa, 27, a mother of two in Lagos, said it was impossible for her to imagine her country could win the fight against Ebola so quickly. She said it's a relief to get back to normal, with schools starting this week.
"We're very happy as parents to take our children back to school after a long break," Afafa said. "Our confidence has now been restored. We are free to allow our children to interact with others again."
Nigeria was hit with Ebola after Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-born American, brought the deadly virus to Lagos when he flew there on July 20. Since the country was already on alert for the virus, health officials acted quickly and determined that he came into contact with 59 people while at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport and at the hospital.
A burial team from the Liberian Red Cross sprays disinfectantA burial team from the Liberian Red Cross sprays disinfectant over the body bag of an Ebola victim while collecting the man at his home near Monrovia, Liberia. (Photo: John Moore, Getty Images)
Fullscreen
A burial team from the Liberian Red Cross sprays disinfectant U.S. Air Force airmen from the 633rd Medical Group U.S. Air Force airmen disinfect their hands after a U.S. Air Force personnel work to set up a 25-bed hospital Licensed clinician Margaret Chilcott removes her outer A possible Ebola patient is brought to the Texas Health Health workers in protective gear carry the body of TOPSHOTS Volunteers arrive to pick up bodies of people Volunteers arrive to pick up bodies of people who died Volunteers pick up bodies of people who died of the A teacher ckecks body temperature of pupils for the GBARNGA, LIBERIA - OCTOBER 07: U.S. Navy microbiologist GBARNGA, LIBERIA - OCTOBER 07: A U.S. soldier exits GBARNGA, LIBERIA - OCTOBER 07: A U.S. soldier rinses WUERZBURG, GERMANY - OCTOBER 07: A volunteer doctor A woman faints (Bottom) as another reacts while volunteers Volunteers in protective suit carry for burial the Volunteers in protective suit carry for burial the Grave diggers prepare for new Ebola victims outside A grave marker stands over a new cemetery for Ebola Volunteers bury the body of a person who died from A volunteer sprays disinfectant outside an Ebola victim's Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, walks with Nowai korkoyah, MADRID, SPAIN - OCTOBER 07: A Spanish nurse infected A medical convoy in Madrid transports the nurse. epa04435136 Sierra Leone Ebola survivors wait with Ashoka Mukpo, a freelance video journalist, is loaded into an ambulance after arriving in Omaha. Mukpo, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, was taken to Nebraska Medical Center for treatment. TOPSHOTS An US air Force soldier delimits with barbed U.S. Air Force personnel roll out barbed wire near the position of the next Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. A woman looks at an Ebola mural in Monrovia. A sick man is sprayed with disinfectant before entering the Ebola treatment center at the Island Hospital outside Monrovia. Family members help Siata Johnson, center, enter the Ebola treatment center at Island Hospital. A sick man waits to enter the Ebola treatment center at Island Hospitaloutside Monrovia. A woman lies alongside the road near Island Hospital. A member of the Cleaning Guys Haz Mat crew removes items from the apartment where an Ebola patient was staying before being admitted to a hospital in Dallas. Volunteers carry a man suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus to a health center on Oct. 5 in Monrovia, Liberia. A Doctors Without Borders health worker in protective clothing carries a child suspected of having Ebola at a treatment center in Paynesville, Liberia. The girl and her mother, who were showing symptoms of the deadly disease, were awaiting test results for the virus. A man waits to be admitted to the Island Hospital in Monrovia. A man thought to be suffering from the Ebola virus waits to receive attention from medical staff at the Island Hospital. A member of the Cleaning Guys Haz Mat company takes a barrel of items out of the apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was staying before being admitted to a hospital in Dallas. In Brussels, volunteers train at a Doctors Without Borders' replica of an Ebola treatment center before being sent to help fight the spread of the deadly virus in Africa. A woman reacts after her husband is suspected of dying from the Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 4. Red Cross workers carry away the body of a person suspected of dying from the Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 4. Residents of an Ebola affected township argue about not receiving enough family and home disinfection kits in New Kru Town, Liberia. Residents of an Ebola affected township receive family and home disinfection kits distributed from Doctors Without Borders in New Kru Town, Liberia. An unidentified man wears a mask as he walks back from taking out garbage across the street from an apartment complex where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan stayed last week in Dallas. U.S. Air Force personnel offload equipment from a C-17 transport plane outside of Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 3. A Liberian Ministry of Health worker speaks to a child at a holding center for suspected Ebola patients on Oct. 3 at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia. The child arrived with his sick mother and two siblings to be tested for Ebola. His father died of the disease last week. Health workers look after a patient at a World Health Organization treatment center in Monrovia. Health workers check on a patient. A woman lies on a mattress at a holding center for suspected Ebola patients in the former maternity ward at Redemption Hospital. A health worker dons protective clothing. A Liberian Ministry of Health worker tucks in mosquito netting. Health workers wait at a treatment center. A pile of used protective clothing lies on the floor at a World Health Organization health center. A Liberian Ministry of Health worker is sprayed with disinfectant after removing his protective suit. A hazardous-materials cleaner arrives at an apartment in the Ivy Apartments complex in Dallas. An Ebola patient, who is being treated at a local hospital, traveled from Liberia to the U.S. and stayed at the apartment last week. A young man retrieves supplies left at an apartment in the Ivy Apartments complex in Dallas. Medical personnel at an Ebola treatment center at Island hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, disinfect people who had transported people suspected of having the Ebola virus Oct. 2. Medical staff wearing protective clothes transport a man suffering from Ebola to the isolation ward at the University Clinic in Frankfurt. Liberian Red Cross staffers look for dead people in Monrovia. A health worker watches as a burial team collects Ebola victims from a Ministry of Health treatment center for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia. Eight Liberian Red Cross burial teams under contract with the country's Ministry of Health collect the bodies of Ebola victims each day in the capital. The first members of a team of 165 Cuban doctors and health workers unload boxes of medicine and medical material from a plane at Freetown's airport in Sierra Leone. A man pushes a wheelbarrow holding a possible victim of the Ebola virus at a treatment center at in Monrovia. Medical personnel at the Ebola treatment center at Island hospital in Monrovia disinfect people who brought patients suspected of having the Ebola virus to the facility. A pedestrian wears a surgical mask as he crosses the street in front of Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas, where Thomas Eric Duncan, an Ebola patient who traveled from Liberia to Dallas last week, is being treated. A man puts down a wheelbarrow containing a woman who is possibly infected with the Ebola virus on Oct. 2 at Island Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. A man possibly suffering from the Ebola virus waits to be admitted to Island Hospital in Monrovia. A health worker walks past a boy suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus at Island Hospital. Mercy Kennedy, 9, cries as community activists approach her outside her home in Monrovia. Her mother died from Ebola the previous day. Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson, left, and Christopher Perkins, medical director of Dallas County Health Authority, leave an apartment unit at The Ivy Apartment Complex in Dallas. Officials ave ordered family members who had contact with the patient diagnosed with the Ebola virus to stay inside their Texas home. A private security guard patrols The Ivy Apartments in Dallas. Candis Holt, a mother of a kindergarten student at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary school in Dallas, shows a paper handed out by school officials that list frequently asked questions about the Ebola virus. One or more students that attend the school came in contact with a man diagnosed with the Ebola virus. Two days after a man in Texas was diagnosed with Ebola, Gil Mobley, a Missouri doctor, checks in to board a passenger aircraft dressed in full protection gear during a protest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Mobley claims the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is mismanaging the response to the Ebola virus. A health worker writes the name of a doctor on his protective suit at a Doctors Without Borders' Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia. Health workers in protective suits treat a woman and her two children at the Doctors Without Borders' Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. A health worker in protective suit checks his equipment at the Doctors Without Borders treatment center. A health worker in protective suit hangs aprons to dry at the Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. Relief aid supplies for the regions stricken by Ebola in Liberia are loaded onto a 747 cargo plane at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization, is shipping a 747 cargo jet filled with supplies, including rubber gloves, face masks, rubber boots and disinfectants. Health workers in protective gear remove the body of a woman suspected to have died from the Ebola virus, near the area of Freeport in Monrovia, Liberia. A health worker stands in a doorway at Island Hospital on Sept. 30 in Monrovia, Liberia. A patient diagnosed with the Ebola virus is being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. The patient recently traveled to Texas from Liberia. Edward Goodman, left, epidemiologist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, attends a news conference with physician Mark Lester about an Ebola patient they are caring for in Dallas. A medical worker sprays people being discharged from the Island Clinic Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. A woman is sprayed with disinfectant as she is discharged from the Island Clinic Ebola treatment center. Gordon Kamara, left, is sprayed by Konah Deno after they loaded six patients suspected to have been infected by the Ebola virus into their ambulance at Freeman Reserve village near Monrovia. Marie Nyan, whose mother died of Ebola, carries her son, Nathaniel Edward, to an ambulance after showing signs of being infected with Ebola at Freeman Reserve village. Nowa Paye is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of the Ebola infection in Freeman Reserve village near Monrovia, Liberia. Residents of Freeman Reserve village watch members from the District 13 ambulance service disinfect a room as they pick up six suspected Ebola victims. Nowa Paye is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of Ebola infection in Freeman Reserve village. People suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus wait to be taken for treatment in Monrovia. Health workers in protective suits stand next to Ebola patients at Island Hospital. Health workers in protective suits greet a woman who has come to deliver food to relatives at Island Hospital where people suffering from the Ebola virus are being treated in Monrovia. Liberians wash their hands next to an Ebola information and sanitation station in Monrovia. A burial squad carries the body of a suspected Ebola victim in Logan Town, Liberia. A man too weak to walk arrives at the Doctors Without Borders treatment center in Monrovia on Sept. 29. Medical staff members of the Croix Rouge NGO put on protective suits before collecting the corpse of a victim of Ebola in Monrovia. Doctors Without Borders personnel carry a man suspected of being infected with the deadly Ebola virus inside an isolation and treatment center in Monrovia on Monday. A Doctors Without Borders nurse prepares to enter a high-risk zone. A medical staff member passes the crematorium.
Next Slide
The government immediately imposed strict measures to quarantine those who were ill and to screen thousands of their contacts around the densely populated Lagos.
President Goodluck Jonathan declared a national emergency, closed schools and set about tracing who had been in contact with those infected. Also, the government distributed leaflets and put up billboards in multiple local languages to educate the public on preventive measures and symptoms of the Ebola virus.
The government even advised people to use ashes to clean their hands, for those who couldn't afford to buy soap.
"This is how we won the fight against Ebola virus," said Commissioner for Health Jide Idris. "We swiftly worked together as a country when we discovered cases of the virus. The people of Nigeria were very cooperative. They followed the instructions that were given."
Nigerians are still warned to remain vigilant about the illness and to take preventative measures. Despite the warnings, the mood on the streets of Lagos was joyous at what seems a return to normal life.
"It was difficult even to meet your close relatives and friends due to fear of contacting Ebola virus," said Dan Adeboye, 45, who resumed his work shining shoes last week. "But now we can talk and do our work without fear."
Thursday 9 October 2014
Nigeria succeeds at containing Ebola- Culled from USA TODAY
Ameen Auwalii and Alpha Kamara, Special for USA TODAY 12:31 a.m. EDT October 9, 2014
nigeria ebola
(Photo: Sunday Alamba, AP)
LAGOS, Nigeria — People here are shaking hands again, kissing, hugging, touching. These days, shops are open, people are working, and children are finally going back to school.
That's because Nigeria — Africa's most populous country — is officially Ebola-free, the health ministry said, even as the deadly virus rages on in neighboring countries, where lockdowns and quarantines are common and death rates are rising.
USA TODAY
Ebola outbreak: Since first death in U.S., 5 things you need to know
As the United States and Spain deal with their first diagnosed cases of Ebola and fears that the virus could spread, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending researchers to Lagos to study how Nigeria was able to contain the disease. No new cases have been reported there since Aug. 31, the CDC said.
Nigeria's "extensive response to a single case of Ebola shows that control is possible with rapid, focused interventions," CDC Director Tom Frieden said.
Man with signs of Ebola claims contact with dead patient
Christine Afafa, 27, a mother of two in Lagos, said it was impossible for her to imagine her country could win the fight against Ebola so quickly. She said it's a relief to get back to normal, with schools starting this week.
"We're very happy as parents to take our children back to school after a long break," Afafa said. "Our confidence has now been restored. We are free to allow our children to interact with others again."
Nigeria was hit with Ebola after Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-born American, brought the deadly virus to Lagos when he flew there on July 20. Since the country was already on alert for the virus, health officials acted quickly and determined that he came into contact with 59 people while at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport and at the hospital.
A burial team from the Liberian Red Cross sprays disinfectantA burial team from the Liberian Red Cross sprays disinfectant over the body bag of an Ebola victim while collecting the man at his home near Monrovia, Liberia. (Photo: John Moore, Getty Images)
Fullscreen
A burial team from the Liberian Red Cross sprays disinfectant U.S. Air Force airmen from the 633rd Medical Group U.S. Air Force airmen disinfect their hands after a U.S. Air Force personnel work to set up a 25-bed hospital Licensed clinician Margaret Chilcott removes her outer A possible Ebola patient is brought to the Texas Health Health workers in protective gear carry the body of TOPSHOTS Volunteers arrive to pick up bodies of people Volunteers arrive to pick up bodies of people who died Volunteers pick up bodies of people who died of the A teacher ckecks body temperature of pupils for the GBARNGA, LIBERIA - OCTOBER 07: U.S. Navy microbiologist GBARNGA, LIBERIA - OCTOBER 07: A U.S. soldier exits GBARNGA, LIBERIA - OCTOBER 07: A U.S. soldier rinses WUERZBURG, GERMANY - OCTOBER 07: A volunteer doctor A woman faints (Bottom) as another reacts while volunteers Volunteers in protective suit carry for burial the Volunteers in protective suit carry for burial the Grave diggers prepare for new Ebola victims outside A grave marker stands over a new cemetery for Ebola Volunteers bury the body of a person who died from A volunteer sprays disinfectant outside an Ebola victim's Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, walks with Nowai korkoyah, MADRID, SPAIN - OCTOBER 07: A Spanish nurse infected A medical convoy in Madrid transports the nurse. epa04435136 Sierra Leone Ebola survivors wait with Ashoka Mukpo, a freelance video journalist, is loaded into an ambulance after arriving in Omaha. Mukpo, who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia, was taken to Nebraska Medical Center for treatment. TOPSHOTS An US air Force soldier delimits with barbed U.S. Air Force personnel roll out barbed wire near the position of the next Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. A woman looks at an Ebola mural in Monrovia. A sick man is sprayed with disinfectant before entering the Ebola treatment center at the Island Hospital outside Monrovia. Family members help Siata Johnson, center, enter the Ebola treatment center at Island Hospital. A sick man waits to enter the Ebola treatment center at Island Hospitaloutside Monrovia. A woman lies alongside the road near Island Hospital. A member of the Cleaning Guys Haz Mat crew removes items from the apartment where an Ebola patient was staying before being admitted to a hospital in Dallas. Volunteers carry a man suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus to a health center on Oct. 5 in Monrovia, Liberia. A Doctors Without Borders health worker in protective clothing carries a child suspected of having Ebola at a treatment center in Paynesville, Liberia. The girl and her mother, who were showing symptoms of the deadly disease, were awaiting test results for the virus. A man waits to be admitted to the Island Hospital in Monrovia. A man thought to be suffering from the Ebola virus waits to receive attention from medical staff at the Island Hospital. A member of the Cleaning Guys Haz Mat company takes a barrel of items out of the apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was staying before being admitted to a hospital in Dallas. In Brussels, volunteers train at a Doctors Without Borders' replica of an Ebola treatment center before being sent to help fight the spread of the deadly virus in Africa. A woman reacts after her husband is suspected of dying from the Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 4. Red Cross workers carry away the body of a person suspected of dying from the Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 4. Residents of an Ebola affected township argue about not receiving enough family and home disinfection kits in New Kru Town, Liberia. Residents of an Ebola affected township receive family and home disinfection kits distributed from Doctors Without Borders in New Kru Town, Liberia. An unidentified man wears a mask as he walks back from taking out garbage across the street from an apartment complex where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan stayed last week in Dallas. U.S. Air Force personnel offload equipment from a C-17 transport plane outside of Monrovia, Liberia on Oct. 3. A Liberian Ministry of Health worker speaks to a child at a holding center for suspected Ebola patients on Oct. 3 at Redemption Hospital in Monrovia. The child arrived with his sick mother and two siblings to be tested for Ebola. His father died of the disease last week. Health workers look after a patient at a World Health Organization treatment center in Monrovia. Health workers check on a patient. A woman lies on a mattress at a holding center for suspected Ebola patients in the former maternity ward at Redemption Hospital. A health worker dons protective clothing. A Liberian Ministry of Health worker tucks in mosquito netting. Health workers wait at a treatment center. A pile of used protective clothing lies on the floor at a World Health Organization health center. A Liberian Ministry of Health worker is sprayed with disinfectant after removing his protective suit. A hazardous-materials cleaner arrives at an apartment in the Ivy Apartments complex in Dallas. An Ebola patient, who is being treated at a local hospital, traveled from Liberia to the U.S. and stayed at the apartment last week. A young man retrieves supplies left at an apartment in the Ivy Apartments complex in Dallas. Medical personnel at an Ebola treatment center at Island hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, disinfect people who had transported people suspected of having the Ebola virus Oct. 2. Medical staff wearing protective clothes transport a man suffering from Ebola to the isolation ward at the University Clinic in Frankfurt. Liberian Red Cross staffers look for dead people in Monrovia. A health worker watches as a burial team collects Ebola victims from a Ministry of Health treatment center for cremation in Monrovia, Liberia. Eight Liberian Red Cross burial teams under contract with the country's Ministry of Health collect the bodies of Ebola victims each day in the capital. The first members of a team of 165 Cuban doctors and health workers unload boxes of medicine and medical material from a plane at Freetown's airport in Sierra Leone. A man pushes a wheelbarrow holding a possible victim of the Ebola virus at a treatment center at in Monrovia. Medical personnel at the Ebola treatment center at Island hospital in Monrovia disinfect people who brought patients suspected of having the Ebola virus to the facility. A pedestrian wears a surgical mask as he crosses the street in front of Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas, where Thomas Eric Duncan, an Ebola patient who traveled from Liberia to Dallas last week, is being treated. A man puts down a wheelbarrow containing a woman who is possibly infected with the Ebola virus on Oct. 2 at Island Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. A man possibly suffering from the Ebola virus waits to be admitted to Island Hospital in Monrovia. A health worker walks past a boy suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus at Island Hospital. Mercy Kennedy, 9, cries as community activists approach her outside her home in Monrovia. Her mother died from Ebola the previous day. Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson, left, and Christopher Perkins, medical director of Dallas County Health Authority, leave an apartment unit at The Ivy Apartment Complex in Dallas. Officials ave ordered family members who had contact with the patient diagnosed with the Ebola virus to stay inside their Texas home. A private security guard patrols The Ivy Apartments in Dallas. Candis Holt, a mother of a kindergarten student at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary school in Dallas, shows a paper handed out by school officials that list frequently asked questions about the Ebola virus. One or more students that attend the school came in contact with a man diagnosed with the Ebola virus. Two days after a man in Texas was diagnosed with Ebola, Gil Mobley, a Missouri doctor, checks in to board a passenger aircraft dressed in full protection gear during a protest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Mobley claims the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is mismanaging the response to the Ebola virus. A health worker writes the name of a doctor on his protective suit at a Doctors Without Borders' Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia. Health workers in protective suits treat a woman and her two children at the Doctors Without Borders' Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. A health worker in protective suit checks his equipment at the Doctors Without Borders treatment center. A health worker in protective suit hangs aprons to dry at the Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. Relief aid supplies for the regions stricken by Ebola in Liberia are loaded onto a 747 cargo plane at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization, is shipping a 747 cargo jet filled with supplies, including rubber gloves, face masks, rubber boots and disinfectants. Health workers in protective gear remove the body of a woman suspected to have died from the Ebola virus, near the area of Freeport in Monrovia, Liberia. A health worker stands in a doorway at Island Hospital on Sept. 30 in Monrovia, Liberia. A patient diagnosed with the Ebola virus is being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. The patient recently traveled to Texas from Liberia. Edward Goodman, left, epidemiologist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, attends a news conference with physician Mark Lester about an Ebola patient they are caring for in Dallas. A medical worker sprays people being discharged from the Island Clinic Ebola treatment center in Monrovia. A woman is sprayed with disinfectant as she is discharged from the Island Clinic Ebola treatment center. Gordon Kamara, left, is sprayed by Konah Deno after they loaded six patients suspected to have been infected by the Ebola virus into their ambulance at Freeman Reserve village near Monrovia. Marie Nyan, whose mother died of Ebola, carries her son, Nathaniel Edward, to an ambulance after showing signs of being infected with Ebola at Freeman Reserve village. Nowa Paye is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of the Ebola infection in Freeman Reserve village near Monrovia, Liberia. Residents of Freeman Reserve village watch members from the District 13 ambulance service disinfect a room as they pick up six suspected Ebola victims. Nowa Paye is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of Ebola infection in Freeman Reserve village. People suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus wait to be taken for treatment in Monrovia. Health workers in protective suits stand next to Ebola patients at Island Hospital. Health workers in protective suits greet a woman who has come to deliver food to relatives at Island Hospital where people suffering from the Ebola virus are being treated in Monrovia. Liberians wash their hands next to an Ebola information and sanitation station in Monrovia. A burial squad carries the body of a suspected Ebola victim in Logan Town, Liberia. A man too weak to walk arrives at the Doctors Without Borders treatment center in Monrovia on Sept. 29. Medical staff members of the Croix Rouge NGO put on protective suits before collecting the corpse of a victim of Ebola in Monrovia. Doctors Without Borders personnel carry a man suspected of being infected with the deadly Ebola virus inside an isolation and treatment center in Monrovia on Monday. A Doctors Without Borders nurse prepares to enter a high-risk zone. A medical staff member passes the crematorium.
Next Slide
The government immediately imposed strict measures to quarantine those who were ill and to screen thousands of their contacts around the densely populated Lagos.
President Goodluck Jonathan declared a national emergency, closed schools and set about tracing who had been in contact with those infected. Also, the government distributed leaflets and put up billboards in multiple local languages to educate the public on preventive measures and symptoms of the Ebola virus.
The government even advised people to use ashes to clean their hands, for those who couldn't afford to buy soap.
"This is how we won the fight against Ebola virus," said Commissioner for Health Jide Idris. "We swiftly worked together as a country when we discovered cases of the virus. The people of Nigeria were very cooperative. They followed the instructions that were given."
Nigerians are still warned to remain vigilant about the illness and to take preventative measures. Despite the warnings, the mood on the streets of Lagos was joyous at what seems a return to normal life.
"It was difficult even to meet your close relatives and friends due to fear of contacting Ebola virus," said Dan Adeboye, 45, who resumed his work shining shoes last week. "But now we can talk and do our work without fear."
