ABUJA - A nurse who treated a patient of Ebola in southwestern Nigeria's state of Lagos has been confirmed dead after contacting the virus, Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu said on Wednesday.

The deceased health worker, whose name was not disclosed, died in a local hospital in Nigeria's most populous city and commercial hub late Tuesday, said Chukwu.

He told reporters in Abuja that the nurse had come in contact with Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian, who died of Ebola about two weeks ago in the same city.

It is, however, unclear if the nurse was among the eight suspected carriers of the Ebola virus in the Nigerian state. Officials said all the suspected carriers came in contact with Sawyer.

Commissioner for health in Lagos State Jide Idris, at a news conference on Tuesday, said six others were quarantined but had not shown signs of the disease.

The state government had stepped up its effort to trace all those that came in contact with the Liberian, Idris added.

Ebola, which has killed over 800 people in West African countries, spreads through mucous and other body fluid or secretions such as stool, urine, saliva and semen of infected people. It is believed to be very difficult to control.

Altogether 1,603 infections and 887 deaths have been recorded in the Ebola-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization said.