A man arrived by plane in Lagos on July 20. He fell ill at the airport and was taken to a hospital. Shortly afterward he was diagnosed with Ebola, the first case in Nigeria.
Lagos is an enormous city of 22 million, and public-sector doctors were on strike. The number of lives at risk was terrifying.
“If Ebola hits Lagos, we're in real trouble,” warned Laurie Garrett in Foreign Policy, and added that her colleague John Campbell predicted it “would instantly transform this situation into a worldwide crisis.”
Yet August 29 marked the last reported case of Ebola in the country, and the number of confirmed cases topped out at 20, with eight deaths. The incubation period for those who had contact with Ebola patients ended on October 2. After 42 days with no new cases, Nigeria will be officially free of Ebola. Read more »
