ABUJA, Nigeria — A woman who travelled from Uganda to the capital is in isolation after Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade, according to the World Health Organization.
Her symptoms started Oct. 7. She had arrived four days earlier. On Oct. 11 she went to a private health facility in Abuja. A laboratory test on Oct. 20 confirmed Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease, WHO said.
So far, 44 contacts have been identified. They are being monitored while officials try to trace others who may have been exposed, and to work out where she caught the virus and the full course of her travel.
Most of the contacts are health workers, according to Reuters. They include the woman’s husband, a Swiss national who lives with her in Abuja.
The woman reached Abuja via Addis Ababa on Oct. 5, Odianosen Ehiakhamen of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention told Arise TV. Two days after arriving she felt unwell. She sought treatment for symptoms that looked like malaria, but she did not get better, Ehiakhamen said.
Her recent travel to Uganda prompted officials to test her for Ebola, which they did on Oct. 19. Passengers who flew with her are being traced too, though officials do not think she had symptoms on the flights.
Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate told public broadcaster NTA the woman was in isolation and receiving care. Pate pointed to 2014, when Nigeria contained Ebola, and said the systems to respond to the new case are in place.
To coordinate the response, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has activated its incident management system, WHO said. Infection controls have been stepped up at the private facility where the woman was treated, and WHO is helping supply protective equipment for health workers.
“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.
Nigeria is the fifth country to detect Bundibugyo virus disease since an outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in mid-May, WHO said. Congo had recorded more than 9,500 cases and more than 4,200 deaths as of Oct. 18, according to Congolese health authorities cited by WHO.
Reuters reported Nigeria is the fourth African country affected by the outbreak and the most populous yet. The strain kills about half of those infected and has no approved treatment or vaccine, Reuters said.
Uganda’s health ministry said the woman had travelled to Congo. In a statement, the ministry said travel through Uganda does not establish that the infection occurred there, and that Uganda has no confirmed active cases.
Uganda’s own outbreak was declared over in late August. Nine cases have been reported in Kenya and one in the Netherlands, all linked to Congo, WHO said.
WHO has advised against restrictions on travel and trade with affected countries. Countries in the region were told to maintain strong surveillance and make sure their laboratories can test suspected cases safely.
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