Nigeria’s first Ebola patient is the wife of a diplomat who travelled to Uganda, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.
The 42-year-old woman, who lives in Abuja, reportedly spent two and half weeks in Kampala, Uganda, before returning to Nigeria on October 3.
She developed symptoms on October 6 and initially suspected malaria, prompting visits to private hospitals before she was admitted to a health facility on October 11.
The Minister of Health, Muhammad Pate, said the patient was stable and showing signs of improvement.
Following confirmation of the case, health authorities identified 44 contacts who may have been exposed to the patient. None had developed symptoms at the time of the report.
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The woman reportedly had a two-hour stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during her journey, raising the need for health authorities to coordinate contact tracing across the countries involved.
However, accounts of her travel history have differed. Ugandan authorities reportedly indicated that she had travelled to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo for business and passed through Uganda, while maintaining that there were no confirmed active Ebola cases in Uganda.
Nigeria is working with Uganda, Ethiopia and the Africa CDC to establish the patient’s movements and strengthen surveillance and response measures.
The Director-General of the Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, called for information sharing and coordination among the countries, cautioning against travel bans that could undermine public health cooperation.
Health authorities are continuing to monitor the identified contacts and assess the risk of further transmission.
