BY Taiwo George
A Nigerian soldier who contracted the highly contagious Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) while on peacekeeping mission in Liberia has recovered from the virus.
About 1, 300 soldiers from Nigeria are currently on peacekeeping mission in Liberia.
On December 4, the United Nations announced that an unnamed peacekeeper from Nigeria tested positive to EVD and he was flown to the Netherlands two days later.
He was the first Ebola patient to be treated at the university hospital in central city Utrecht and in Netherlands.
However, the Dutch authorities announced on Friday that the soldier had been cured.
“The Nigerian patient who was admitted on December 6 has been cured of Ebola,” the Dutch public health institute RIVM said in a statement.
In October, there were reports that a Nigerian soldier tested positive to the virus but the military authorities debunked the report.
The defence headquarters said its personnel in Liberia were being confined to their camp as precautionary measure, adding that it arrived at that measure after a Sudanese staff of the United Nations died in Germany after contracting the virus in Liberia.
“All necessary steps are also being taken to ensure that none of the Nigerian troops is affected by the disease while serving in Liberia,” the military said.
Ebola has killed more than 6,900 people, particularly in West Africa, with Liberia – where a total of 3,290 people have died from the disease – being the worst-hit.
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