LAGOS, Aug 17 (Reuters): The first Nigerian confirmed to have contracted the Ebola virus has been discharged here after full recovery, the government said.
Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu late Saturday told reporters in Lagos, the country's economic hub, that the patient was discharged after conclusive protocols, Xinhua reported.
Five other Ebola patients also have almost fully recovered, Chukwu said.
He said Nigeria recorded 12 confirmed cases, four of whom have died, while 189 people are under surveillance in Lagos, and six in southeastern state of Enugu.
According to the minister, all the people under surveillance came in secondary contacts with the infected, and all the patients under treatment have now moved to the new 40-bed isolated ward in Lagos.
The minister also said the Nanosilver drug which was made available to the Emergency Operations Centre in Lagos Aug 14, did not meet basic research requirements.
Chukwu denied the rumour of Ebola virus in Imo, Abia and Cross River states.
Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian national, brought the Ebola virus into the country. It has killed over 1,000 people in West Africa. Sawyer died on July 20 and the female doctor who attended to him also died on July 25 after getting infected.
Meanwhile: Health care workers in Liberia have administered three doses of the rare, experimental drug ZMapp to three doctors suffering from Ebola, two medical workers in Monrovia told Reuters.
Liberia, the West African country with the highest death toll from the tropical virus at 413, received three doses of the rare serum in a special consignment this week.
Doctors Zukunis Ireland and Abraham Borbor from Liberia and Dr Aroh Cosmos Izchukwu from Nigeria are the first Africans to receive the treatment. The drug has already been administered to two American healthcare workers and a Spanish priest, all previously working in Liberian hospitals.
