Nigeria has reported its first case of Ebola in nearly a decade, after a woman living in the capital of the country, Abuja, tested positive for the virus after traveling to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The woman arrived in Nigeria on 5 October and felt ill two days later, Odianosen Ehiakhamen, assistant director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
The woman reportedly arrived at a private hospital on 11 October with malaria-like symptoms and tested at the hospital for Ebola on 19 October.
Most of the 44 contacts identified to date are workers in the healthcare sector and the woman’s husband, a Swiss national who resides in Abuja with her.
Authorities are investigating passengers who traveled with her on Ethiopian Airlines’ flights to Uganda while authorities are not concerned she was symptomatic at the time she traveled.
Nigeria’s Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate told the public broadcaster NTA that the patient was being isolated and provided with the necessary care.
Pate said Nigeria had contained an Ebola outbreak in 2014 and was ready to respond to the current situation.
The woman is thought to be originally from Uganda, a senior Nigerian public health official said. Uganda’s health ministry reported that she had traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a large Ebola outbreak has resulted in over 9,000 cases and 4,000 deaths, according to the report.
The outbreak in DRC was declared in mid-May and may have started months before. The illness, known as Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.
Uganda recorded 20 cases in May and June, with most of them imported from the neighboring country. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Uganda free of the virus in August.
Uganda’s health ministry reported no confirmed active cases of Ebola and warned that traveling through the country did not necessarily indicate where the infection had been contracted.
Kenya, meanwhile, has reported nine cases of Ebola this month, all of whom traveled to or from Congo.
The developments highlight the regional challenge to public health posed by cross-border travel and outbreaks affecting multiple countries.
Nigerian authorities are tracing contacts and monitoring potentially infected travelers in response to the confirmed case. The source report did not specify if any secondary infections had been reported in Nigeria.
