Nigeria Confirms First Ebola Case in Abuja, Traces 44 Contacts

Nigeria confirmed a case of Ebola in its capital, Abuja, on Tuesday, the country’s first since 2014, after a woman who recently arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said.

The patient began showing symptoms on Oct. 7, four days after her arrival in Nigeria, and sought care at a private health facility in Abuja on Oct. 11. Laboratory testing confirmed the diagnosis on Oct. 20, according to the World Health Organization. She remains in isolation and is receiving medical care while investigators work to determine where she was exposed and reconstruct her travel history.

Health Minister Muhammad Pate said authorities had identified 44 contacts of the patient and begun monitoring them. “We are doing everything possible to contain this case by tracing all the contacts the individual may have had,” he said. The contacts include health care workers, other patients, caregivers and travel contacts. Infection prevention and control measures are being increased at the private facility where the woman first sought care.

A case traced to travel

Uganda’s Ministry of Health said the patient had only passed through Uganda and was a Nigerian woman who had been on a business trip to Congo’s eastern region. “Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here. The location of exposure remains under investigation,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that Uganda has “no confirmed active Ebola cases.” The Nigerian authorities have not disclosed her nationality.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has activated its incident management system to coordinate the response, and WHO said it is assisting with case investigation, contact tracing and the supply of essential protective equipment for health workers. WHO has not recommended any travel or trade restrictions with the affected countries.

A regional outbreak keeps spreading

Nigeria is the fifth country to detect Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease since an outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in mid-May, the deadliest in that country’s history. More than 9,500 cases and more than 4,200 deaths were recorded as of Oct. 18, according to Congolese health authorities, and there is no vaccine to treat the virus.

Uganda dealt with a deadly outbreak that was officially declared over in late August. Nine cases have been reported in Kenya and one in the Netherlands, both linked to the DRC outbreak. Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, said on X that health officials face “an extremely serious threat,” with a fatality rate of nearly 50%. “This Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has already become the most geographically extensive in history, affecting several countries spread across three regions of Africa,” he said.

WHO has described the outbreak as the fastest-spreading on record and said it is on track to exceed the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak, which killed 11,000 people. Nigeria was one of the countries hit in that earlier outbreak, recording 20 cases before it was declared over there after three months.

Nigeria set up an Ebola task force in June after the Congo outbreak began. “We do not want a repeat of what happened during the last outbreak when a carrier entered the country, and everyone was scrambling to respond,” Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu, said when the task force was announced. “We have covered a lot of ground and established structures to address any potential threat.” The country’s disease control agency had also stepped up surveillance two weeks ago after Ebola was detected in Kenya.

Reporting based on coverage by the Associated Press, UN News and the World Health Organization.