The United States health authorities have come to Nigeria’s aid by announcing that it would send more personnel and resources to Nigeria to help curtain the deadly Ebola virus.

 

This was made known on Friday by the U.S Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner.

 

According to AFP, the decision was propelled by the Nigerian government declaration of national emergency on the deadly virus yesterday (Friday).

 

 

“We are starting to ramp up our staffing in Lagos. We are really concerned about Lagos and the potential for spread there, given the fact that Lagos and Nigeria for that matter has never seen Ebola,” Skinner said.

 

Skinner revealed that CDC personnel are in all affected countries and that several US personnel are already on the ground in Nigeria.

 

“We helped the folks in Lagos set up an emergency operations center similar to what we do here that can help with organizing the country’s response to the outbreak,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, Nigeria became the fourth West African country to have experienced Ebola outbreak in this year. The virus was reportedly brought to the country by a US-Liberian citizen, Patrick Sawyer, who was infected with the virus when he came to Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria, on July 20, 2014. Although he had reportedly died five days after, it was also reported that eight people, who came in contact with him, have been diagnosed with Ebola, and two have died.

 

The deadly virus has so far killed over 932 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria since March 2014. It has so far reportedly infected more than 1,700, according to the World Health Organization.