Why I fear the Ebola virus threat in Lagos

  With an ill-equipped healthcare system, poor hygeine and crowded streets, Nigerians living in the country's biggest city are understandably anxious about the deadly Ebola outbreak 

 

A Lagos friend recently told me she has stopped shaking people’s hands and avoids any bodily contact in public because she is afraid of contracting the ebola virus.

In a city of some 15 million people with “only” 10 confirmed cases of ebola so far, it is easy to dismiss her fears as mere paranoia.

But the seriousness of the ebola virus threat cannot be underestimated and my friend’s fears echo public sentiment here in Lagos. After all, it takes just one person to infect an entire community.

With news that a nurse who was part of the team in the hospital that attended to the first identified case of an ebola virus victim in Nigeria has died, the anxiety is understandable.