ABUJA: Nigeria on Monday confirmed a new case of Ebola in the financial capital Lagos, bringing the total number of people in the country with the virus to 10.

Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu said the latest confirmed case was a female nurse who came into contact with a Liberian-American man, Patrick Sawyer, who died of Ebola in a Lagos hospital on July 25.

In addition to Sawyer, another nurse who had contact with him died last week, while seven other people have been confirmed to have the virus in the city, he added.

"The 10th case actually was one of the nurses who also had primary contact with the index case. When he (Sawyer) got ill, we then brought her into isolation," the minister told a news conference in Abuja.

"We just tested her over the weekend. So, that's what made it 10. So, between Friday and today we had one additional case. That brings it to 10 and the 10 includes the index case."

Chukwu said the nurse was currently undergoing treatment while her husband was under surveillance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday there were 13 probable and suspect cases of Ebola, including two deaths, in Nigeria.

The minister did not comment on the discrepancy in the figures.

The WHO is discussing the possible use of an experimental treatment to try to stem the spread of the deadly virus, which has claimed nearly 1,000 lives in four West African countries this year.

Nigeria has announced a number of measures to curb the spread of Ebola, including the declaration of a national emergency in line with WHO advice to trigger disaster response procedures.

President Goodluck Jonathan has announced greater funding to stop the spread such as setting up additional isolation centers, border screenings and contact tracing.

People in Africa's most populous nation and leading economy have been told to avoid large gatherings.

Meanwhile, Spain has imported a US-made experimental Ebola drug to treat a Spanish missionary priest evacuated from Liberia last week after testing positive for the killer virus.

The Health Ministry announced Monday that the ZMapp drug, made by Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc. of San Diego, was obtained in Geneva this weekend and brought to Madrid to treat Miguel Pajares. The 75-year-old priest was placed in isolation Thursday at Madrid's Carlos III Hospital.

There is no known cure or licensed treatment for Ebola, which has killed more than 1,000 people in the current outbreak in West Africa. The World Health Organization has called the Ebola outbreak — which emerged in Guinea in March and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and possibly Nigeria — an international health emergency and urged nations worldwide to donate resources to battle the disease.

The ethical questions surrounding experimental Ebola drugs and vaccines were being debated Monday during a teleconference of medical ethicists and other experts organized by the UN health agency.

Two Americans diagnosed with Ebola in Liberia and evacuated back to the United States have been treated with the drug.