The World Health Organisation has warned that the Ebola outbreak in Africa has become increasingly complex following Nigeria’s confirmation of an imported case of the Bundibugyo strain, marking the virus’s reported spread to West Africa from the eastern part of the continent.
Nigeria announced the case on Tuesday after a woman with a history of travel to Uganda tested positive for the virus. The patient, a Ugandan national residing in Abuja and married to a diplomat, returned to Nigeria’s capital on October 3 after being in Uganda since September 16.
The development makes Nigeria the fourth African country affected by the ongoing outbreak, which originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has also spread to Kenya, where nine cases have been reported since October 6.
“We are facing a more complex outbreak landscape. Nigeria has confirmed an imported case of Ebola virus disease,” WHO Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, said during an online media briefing on Thursday.
According to WHO’s representative in Nigeria, Pavel Ursu, the patient travelled to Abuja aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight, transiting through Addis Ababa. Details of her journey were also discussed at an emergency meeting of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General, Jean Kaseya, said the woman was originally from Uganda but lived in Abuja. He also disputed earlier suggestions by Ugandan authorities that she had travelled to the DRC.
The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, has become the deadliest Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC, with health authorities reporting more than 9,000 confirmed cases and over 4,000 deaths since mid-May.
The strain currently has no approved vaccine or specific treatment, raising concerns among public health officials as the outbreak affects more countries.
Kaseya has described the situation as an “extremely serious threat”, with the fatality rate in the DRC approaching 50 per cent.
Nigeria’s latest case has also revived memories of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people across West Africa between late 2013 and 2016.
Nigeria contained the virus during that outbreak, recording 19 infections and seven deaths. The country’s previous response has raised expectations that it can again limit transmission through rapid detection, contact tracing and other public health measures.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people or contaminated materials. The disease can cause severe illness, including internal and external bleeding and organ failure.
Uganda has pushed back against suggestions that the Nigerian patient contracted the virus while in the country, insisting it had been declared Ebola-free by the WHO in August after an outbreak that recorded 20 cases, most involving people who had travelled from the DRC.
Ugandan government spokesman Alan Kasujja criticised attempts to associate the country with Nigeria’s case.
“It’s preposterous to suggest that just because someone was holidaying in Uganda, which by the way has no cases of Ebola, is reason enough to drag us into a conversation about Ebola in Nigeria,” Kasujja told AFP.
“We’re trying as much as possible to make sure that Uganda is not branded as an Ebola country,” he added.
The patient’s travel history is therefore a key part of efforts to establish where she may have been exposed to the virus.
WHO’s representative in Nigeria said the patient, who is receiving treatment at a private hospital, was showing “positive signs”.
However, an NCDC official had reported a day earlier that she had experienced multiple organ failure, underscoring the severity of her condition.
