ABUJA: Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case in nearly a decade after a woman living in the capital, Abuja, tested positive following travel involving Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Uganda’s health ministry has pushed back against any suggestion that the infection originated in the country, stressing that travel through Uganda does not establish where the virus was contracted. It also said Uganda had no confirmed active Ebola cases.
According to Odianosen Ehiakhamen, assistant director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the patient arrived in Nigeria on October 5 and began experiencing symptoms two days later.
She sought treatment at a private hospital on October 11 for symptoms resembling malaria and tested positive for Ebola on October 19.
Ugandan health authorities said the woman had travelled to the DRC, which is experiencing one of the largest Ebola outbreaks on record, with more than 9,000 reported cases and over 4,000 deaths.
Nigerian authorities have traced 44 contacts so far, most of them healthcare workers, along with the patient’s husband, a Swiss national residing with her in Abuja.
Officials are also tracking passengers who shared Ethiopian Airlines flights with the woman from Uganda. However, health authorities believe she was not showing symptoms while travelling.
Nigeria’s Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate told the state broadcaster NTA that the patient was being kept in isolation and receiving medical care.
Pate expressed confidence in the country’s ability to contain the infection, pointing to Nigeria’s successful response to an Ebola outbreak in 2014 and the systems established to manage such emergencies.
The current outbreak in the DRC was officially declared in mid-May, although it may have begun months earlier. It is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.
Uganda recorded 20 cases in May and June, most of them linked to infections originating in the DRC. The World Health Organization declared the country free of the virus in August.
Meanwhile, Kenya has reported nine Ebola cases this month, all linked to an individual who travelled from the DRC, highlighting concerns over the spread of the virus across the region.
