Liberian Man With First Ebola Case In Nigeria Is Dead

Mr. Patrick Sawyer, a WASH consultant at the Ministry of Finance, who had been quarantined since arriving Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday, July 20, 2014 with symptoms of the Ebola virus, has died .

A Liberian government official, speaking on condition of anonymity said the news of Sawyer’s death was relayed to Liberia by the Nigerian embassy, in the early hours of Friday, July 25, 2014.

The Lagos government health authorities announced on Thursday, July 24, 2014 that Sawyer was being tested for the deadly Ebola virus.

Sawyer’s death is the first recorded case of one of the world’s deadliest diseases in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation, with 170 million people.

Ebola has killed 632 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since an outbreak began in February, straining a string of weak health systems despite international help.