Nigeria Ebola case widens record outbreak across Africa

NIGERIA'S first Ebola infection in more than a decade is widening an outbreak that has already spread to several African countries, prompting the continent’s top public health agency to call for urgent international assistance.

The Nigerian case was caused by the Bundibugyo strain, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said in a statement on Tuesday. The agency is mobilising support for Nigeria while intensifying its response in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, he said.

“This Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak has already become the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history, affecting multiple countries across three regions of Africa,” Kaseya said.

Nigeria previously confirmed that a woman who recently arrived in the country on a flight from Uganda had tested positive for the virus. She began showing symptoms on Oct. 7 and was admitted to a private hospital in Abuja on Oct 11, according to Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate. She is now in isolation and receiving medical care.

Authorities have identified 44 of her contacts so far and are tracing and monitoring people who may have been exposed, including healthcare 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.

Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation, is a major West African travel hub.

Bundibugyo has no approved vaccines or therapies. Moderna Inc. has begun testing an experimental vaccine designed to target the virus. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a nonprofit focused on developing new vaccines for pandemic threats, is helping fund the effort.

The current outbreak began more than five months ago in Congo, which has recorded 9,552 confirmed infections and 4,602 deaths, according to the National Institute of Public Health. The crude case-fatality rate is 48%.

Uganda recorded cases earlier in the outbreak and remains on heightened alert, while Kenya has reported infections linked to a traveller from Congo who passed through Uganda before arriving in Nairobi. Patients with infections tied to the outbreak have also been detected or treated in Europe.

Africa CDC called for immediate international financing, medical supplies, diagnostics, trained responders and stronger community-based surveillance to prevent further spread.

“We cannot allow this outbreak to spread to more countries or continue for another year,” Kaseya said. “Every day of delay costs lives.”

The last Ebola outbreak reported in Nigeria was in 2014, when an infected traveller arrived in Lagos from Liberia during the West African Ebola epidemic.