Nigeria Confirms Its First Case of Ebola
Nigeria's Health Ministry has reported the country's first Ebola case, found in the capital Abuja in a woman who arrived from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Authorities are tracing 44 people who may have had contact with her.
Nigeria's Health Ministry announced on Tuesday, 20 October, the first confirmed case of Ebola in the West African country. The virus was detected in the capital, Abuja, in a woman who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) via Uganda in transit. The patient has been hospitalised. The case matters because it shows that the outbreak that began in the DRC has now reached another country.
Authorities are monitoring 44 people who may have been in contact with the patient. The information was relayed by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Route from Congo
Uganda's Health Ministry clarified that the Nigerian citizen was only passing through its territory in transit. Before that, she had been on a business trip in the east of the DRC. Uganda has recorded Ebola cases in the past, but the country later declared that it had no active cases.
Outbreak in the DRC
The Ebola outbreak in the DRC, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, has been continuing since May. According to data from mid-September, more than 7,000 infections have been confirmed in the country and over 3,300 people have died. At the end of August, the first batch of the Ervebo vaccine arrived in the DRC; the World Health Organization (WHO) hopes it may provide some protection against this strain.
The Ebola virus causes severe haemorrhagic fever, and mortality from the Bundibugyo strain reaches 50%. There are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for it. Efforts to contain the outbreak in the DRC are complicated by an ongoing armed conflict between the government and rebel groups.
