Ebola Update! Nurse Who Had Contact With Liberian Victim Leaves Quarantine, Makes Contact With 20 In Enugu

A nurse, who had previously had contact with the Liberian Ebola patient Patrick Sawyer, fled quarantine in Lagos, and returned to her home in Enugu.

This risky decision, and her resulting contact with 20 other people, have put the government on high alert.

A nurse helps a health worker put on protective gear before treating Ebola patients at a clinic in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, in July. NPR Minister of Information Labaran Maku, speaking at a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting today, that the nurse and the 20 people she was in contact with are currently under surveillance in Enugu.

“All those who she was in contact with, including her husband, are under quarantine. The medical team has been able to trace all those who made contact with her,” he furthered, encouraging citizens to comply with protocol and instruction from health officials.

“We have port health workers that are working in our airports and seaports. We are calling on citizens specifically to cooperate. If health workers say you have had contact with A, B, C, don’t move to anywhere; respect that judgment. It is very important. In one or two cases where we have had disobedience, we lost one of them and this one now moved with it to another place (Enugu). So we are urging Nigerians, please, to help us in making sure that all these messages and appeals we are making are implemented.”

189 people are now being monitored in Nigeria. Three have died from the disease: Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American businessman who collapsed in Lagos, an attending nurse, and an ECOWAS staffer who worked with Sawyer.