Fifty-three people are now under active monitoring in Nigeria after health officials traced their connections to the country's confirmed Ebola case. The contacts were identified by officials and span a wide circle around the patient's daily life and medical care.
The group includes healthcare workers who treated the patient, domestic staff who lived and worked in the same household, and the patient's spouse. Health personnel who collected samples from the patient are also among those being tracked.
Nigerian health authorities are clearly casting a wide net, which signals how seriously the response team is taking containment at this early stage. How many of those 53 contacts were in close physical proximity, and for how long, will likely shape what comes next.
Originally published by AllAfrica.