SAN FRANCISCO, August 19, (THEWILL) – The World Health Organisation Tuesday said the number of Ebola related deaths since the latest outbreak of the disease in the West African states of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria has topped 1229 while 2240 cases have been reported.
WHO said 113 new cases were recorded between August 14 and 16 in the countries where efforts have been escalated to treat victims and also control the spread.
The agency expressed optimism on efforts to stem the spread in Lagos and Guinea saying there are
“Some encouraging signs.”
The situation in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and financial capital, where the first case was detected in July, “looks reassuring,” it said.
“At present, the city’s 12 confirmed cases are all part of a single chain of transmission. Those infected by the initial case include medical staff involved in his treatment, a patient in the same hospital, and a protocol officer in very close contact with the patient,” it said.
No one on the same flight as the Liberian-American man, Patrick Sawyer, who carried the infection into the country on July 20 was infected, despite him vomiting frequently on the flight and on arrival, it said. The man died July 25 and the 21-day incubation period has now passed, the WHO said.
Intensive efforts to track those at risk have not turned up any new cases outside the 12 identified.
One of those 12 has made a full recovery, the WHO said, which “counters the widespread perception that infection with the Ebola virus is invariably a death sentence.” Evidence suggests early detection and therapy can help people survive, it said.
“The intensity of the search and monitoring effort raises cautious optimism that further spread of the virus in Nigeria can be stopped. The search for additional cases continues, as does the current high level of vigilance.”
Nigeria yesterday released four patients from quarantine saying they have responded to treatment and recovered from the disease. Over the weekend it announced the discharge of a female nurse from an isolated ward of the Mainland Hospital in Lagos, where all cases in Nigeria are being treated.
Two hospitals, where infected patients were diagnosed were shut indefinitely by authorities. The hospitals are First Consultant, where Patrick Sawyer was first treated and the other is a clinic operated by the state owned oil corporation, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
** CNN contributed to this report.
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