Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in the current regional outbreak on October 20, identifying the Bundibugyo virus in a woman in Abuja. The diagnosis extends the outbreak to a fourth African country. Authorities have identified 44 contacts and are investigating where she became infected.

The patient remains in isolation and is receiving medical care, Nigeria’s health ministry said. Her travel history has drawn attention to possible exposure outside Nigeria, but the location of infection remains unknown.

Malaria treatment before Ebola diagnosis

The woman developed symptoms on October 7 and sought care at a private facility in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on October 11. Laboratory tests confirmed Ebola nine days later.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, doctors initially treated her for suspected malaria. When her condition failed to improve, they suspected Ebola and arranged further testing.

Advertisement

The 44 identified contacts include medical staff, other patients, caregivers and people who encountered her while travelling. Health authorities have begun monitoring them and continue searching for others who may have been exposed.

The national disease-control agency has activated its incident-management system to coordinate the response. Public and private health facilities have been told to identify, isolate and promptly report suspected cases. Authorities are also strengthening infection-control measures at the facility where the woman received care.

Place of infection remains unresolved

Uganda’s health ministry said the woman had travelled to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo for business. It said she passed through Uganda in early October without symptoms.

The ministry said travelling through Uganda did not establish that she contracted the virus there. Investigators are reconstructing her journey and possible exposures; her exact arrival date in Nigeria remains unclear.

Nigerian authorities have not disclosed her nationality. Whether she crossed paths with Kenya’s first Ebola patient at Uganda’s Entebbe airport has not been established.

Thousands of deaths in Congo

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, health authorities recorded about 9,600 confirmed cases and 4,600 deaths through October 19. Nigeria joins Congo, Uganda and Kenya as African countries that have reported cases in the current outbreak.

Uganda recorded 20 cases and two deaths before being declared Ebola-free on August 27. That declaration followed 42 days without new infections.

Kenya’s health ministry reported nine cases belonging to one cluster. Authorities there identified 135 contacts, of whom 134 had been placed in quarantine.