Nigerian authorities said Monday that their country, which had 20 Ebola cases earlier this month, is now free of the deadly virus.

Doctors said the nation of 160 million people had eradicated the disease through strong tracking, quarantines and aggressive use of water combined with sugar and salt to rehydrate patients.

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Rui Gama Vaz, World Health Organization Nigeria director, said the Ebola containment was "a spectacular success story." Other observers said health officials in that nation were breathing a sigh of relief at the news.

Neighboring Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been inundated with the disease. However, officials said Nigeria's robust efforts to combat Ebola and active health care system had kept the disease at bay.

While Ebola has killed an estimated 2,000 people in Liberia, for example, Nigeria has suffered eight deaths in its 20 cases, lower than the 70 percent death rate experienced in Liberia and neighboring nations. The eight deaths included one nurse and two physicians.

The disease reportedly has struck 9,000 people in West Africa causing 4,500 deaths in all. Nigeria's Ebola experience began with the July diagnosis of an infected Liberian diplomat in Lagos, Nigeria's capital of 21 million people. Health workers eventually contacted everybody with the disease in the country. This included 18,500 visits to almost 900 people with symptoms.

Treatment is difficult, but effective, said Dr. Adaora Igonoh, who has been treating the Nigerian Ebola victims. Igonoh told Associate Press she drank a minimum of five liters, or 1.3 gallons, of the water infused with salt and sugar daily for six days after first suffering a sore throat and Ebola symptoms. 

Saying the mixture tasted horrible, Igonoh added, "You don't want to drink anything. You're too weak, and with a sore throat it's difficult to swallow." However, people had to tell themselves this treatment was essential, whether it tasted nasty or not, she said.

A leading expert of viral fevers, Dr. Simon Mardel, said the number of Ebola deaths could be cut in half if people followed rehydrating procedures and stayed away from anti-inflammatory drugs, which exacerbate the illness.

TagsEbola Virus, Nigeria, WHO, Virus, Free, cases