Nigeria confirms first Ebola case in over a decade as regional outbreak spreads
A Ugandan woman tested positive in Abuja, making Nigeria the fourth and most populous African country affected by an outbreak that has killed 4,646 people.
Abuja, Nigeria. Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed an Ebola infection for the first time in over a decade, joining three other African countries affected by the outbreak. Health officials have described its spread as the fastest ever recorded, with Nigeria now the most populous country affected.
Patient isolated in Abuja
Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate told public broadcaster NTA that the patient, a Ugandan woman, was being treated in isolation.
Odianosen Ehiakhamen of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control told Arise TV on Tuesday that she had reached Abuja on October 5 after travelling through Addis Ababa. She started feeling ill two days after arriving.
According to Ehiakhamen, the woman went to a private hospital in Abuja on October 11 with symptoms resembling malaria, but did not improve. Officials subsequently discovered that she had recently visited Uganda, which is among the countries affected by the outbreak, and tested her for Ebola on October 19. Confirmation of the positive result came on Tuesday.
Uganda’s health ministry said she had also visited Congo, where the number of recorded Ebola infections exceeds 9,500 across eight provinces.
Contacts and fellow passengers traced
Authorities have identified 44 people who had contact with the patient, with healthcare workers accounting for most of them. Her husband, a Swiss national living with her in Abuja, is among those identified.
Officials are also tracking down people who shared her flight, although they do not believe she had symptoms while travelling.
Warnings over wider spread
The outbreak has killed 4,646 people since its initial cases were confirmed in Democratic Republic of Congo in May. The Ebola species responsible has a fatality rate of about 50%, with neither an approved vaccine nor an approved treatment available.
Health officials have warned that inadequate funding and misinformation could accelerate transmission both within the region and beyond national borders.
“Ebola is now affecting three regions of Africa. The situation demands urgent action and political leadership at the highest level,” Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director General Jean Kaseya said on X on Wednesday.
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