The first Nigerian infected with the Ebola virus who had been receiving treatment at the Isolation Center in Lagos has reportedly recovered and has now been discharged from the facility. The doctor, whose identity is yet to be confirmed, is the same one who treated Liberian-American patient Patrick Sawyer who is believed to be the person to have brought the Ebola virus into the country. The doctor treated Sawyer at the First Consultant Hospital in Nigeria, and it was during that time that he was reportedly exposed, and got infected with the virus. Reportedly, the patient was declared fit and was allowed to go home after a series of laboratory investigations.
Dr. Adebayo Onajole, Director of Communication and Community Mobilization for the Nigerian Emergency Operation Center on Ebola Virus Disease confirmed that the previously infected doctor had recovered and has been discharged, but did not give additional details about the case, saying that the Minister of Health would be conducting a press conference to give the media of full briefing about the recovery.
During the current outbreak, Nigeria has reported 10 cases of the Ebola virus, form of which have already died, while the rest have been quarantined and kept under strict surveillance. The surviving doctor was among the six people who were receiving treatment at the Lagos treatment facility. Earlier this month, Nigeria's Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, had already released a statement stating that the quarantined patients were already showing signs of responding to the treatment.
That now healthy doctor was the one who directly treated Mr. Sawyer when he arrived in Nigeria on July 20 of this year. Prior to that, there were no cases of Ebola in the country. Sawyer reportedly became terribly sick during his flight and was brought immediately to the First Consultant Hospital, where he died four days later, the first confirmed case of Ebola virus in Nigeria.