Nigeria admits slow response in Ebola case.

Byline: Maram Mazen

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Nigerian health authorities acknowledged Tuesday that they did not immediately quarantine a sick airline passenger who later died of Ebola, announcing that eight health workers who had direct contact with him were now in isolation with symptoms of the disease.

Ebola, which can cause victims to bleed from the eyes and mouths before a grisly death, has killed nearly 900 people across four countries in West Africa, a deeply impoverished region with severely limited medical resources.

The outbreak, which emerged in March, spread to Nigeria in late July when Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old American of Liberian descent, flew from Liberia's capital to the megacity of Lagos. The announcement that Sawyer was not immediately quarantined underscores concerns that West Africa is ill-equipped to contain such a disease.

By contrast, two American aid workers who were infected with Ebola in Liberia received an experimental drug and were flown in a chartered jet to Atlanta, where they are being treated in a hospital isolation unit. Ebola concerns in the U.S. have led some worried people to hospital emergency rooms, and prompted Ebola testing of at least six patients, according to the U.S...