Nigeria confirms Ebola case in Abuja; patient arrived from Uganda

Nigeria's federal government confirmed an imported Ebola case in the capital, Abuja, on 20 October. The patient is a woman who recently arrived on an international flight from Uganda, the government said in a statement signed by Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Ali Pate.

In a statement on 20 October reported by the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust and Kenya's The Standard, Uganda's Director General of Health Services, Charles Olaro, said the patient is Nigerian, had travelled to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for business and transited through Uganda in early October, with no symptoms while there. "Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here," the statement said. Olaro said the location of exposure remained under investigation and that Uganda had no confirmed active Ebola cases.

Pate said she developed symptoms on 7 October and sought medical attention at a private health facility on 11 October. Laboratory confirmation came on 20 October. She was in isolation and receiving medical care, and Pate described her as stable. Her condition had since deteriorated to multi-organ failure, an official said at an NCDC emergency meeting in Abuja on 21 October, BusinessDay reported.

Contact tracing has identified 44 close contacts so far, including health workers, patients, caregivers and travel contacts. "We are doing everything possible to contain this case by tracing all the contacts the individual may have had," Pate said, as quoted by the Associated Press (AP).

The federal health ministry, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the Federal Capital Territory health services secretariat are coordinating the response, according to Naija News, a Nigerian news site. The private hospital that treated her is receiving support to strengthen infection prevention and control.

The government urged public and private health facilities across Nigeria to stay on high alert, isolate suspected cases promptly, follow strict infection-prevention protocols and report suspected infections immediately.

The NCDC issued an advisory on 6 October warning of the risk of Ebola being imported into Nigeria, Legit.ng reported.

NCDC laboratory director Olajumoke Babatunde said on 21 October that the strain was Bundibugyo. AP said the Bundibugyo virus outbreak, which has spread beyond the DRC, has infected more than 9,000 people and killed more than 4,300. Kenya confirmed its first case on 6 October. It had nine confirmed cases as of 20 October, the country's Director General for Health, Patrick Amoth, said.

The woman's name and age have not been released.