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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Doctors who survived Ebola in Nigeria are crediting heavy doses of fluids with saving their lives.
The World Health Organization today declared Nigeria to be free of Ebola -- a rare victory against the disease that is ravaging West Africa.
The disease had come to Nigeria's biggest city, Lagos, through an airline passenger who had carried Ebola from Liberia. But health workers quickly tracked the progress of everyone who had come in contact with the disease. In the end, Africa's most populous country had just 20 Ebola cases, including eight deaths.
Officials say the success is due to strong tracking and isolation of people exposed to the virus -- along with aggressive rehydration of infected patients to counter the effects of vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms.
One doctor who survived with Ebola says the treatment wasn't easy to take. It involved drinking at least 1.3 gallons of a solution of water laced with salt and sugar every day for five or six days -- even when she had mouth sores and a sore throat.
One expert says rehydration is a low-tech approach that has been neglected by a medical system focused on groundbreaking research.
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152-v-30-(Marta Migdalek (mihg-DAH'-wehk), AP correspondent)--The World Health Organization says Nigeria is officially free of Ebola after six weeks with no new cases. AP correspondent Marta Migdalek reports. (20 Oct 2014)
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153-c-17-(Marta Migdalek (mihg-DAH'-wehk), AP correspondent)-"free of Ebola"-AP correspondent Marta Migdalek reports the World Health Organization has declared Nigeria free of Ebola. (20 Oct 2014)
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APPHOTO NIN113: People walk past a giant electric board warning people on Ebola virus near a hospital where Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer died in Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, Oct. 20, 2014. Water laced with salt and sugar, and gallons of the nasty tasting stuff. That's what doctors who survived Ebola in Nigeria are crediting for their survival. On Monday, the World Health Organization announced a rare victory in the months-long battle against the killer disease, declaring Nigeria is Ebola-free. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) (20 Oct 2014)
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