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The World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have said there is no confirmed information that Nigeria’s Ebola patient travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), contrary to an earlier report by Ugandan authorities.
Nigeria’s first Ebola case in more than a decade involved a woman who returned to Abuja after spending about two weeks in Uganda.
WHO representative to Nigeria, Pavel Ursu, said the information available to the agency indicated that the patient had not travelled outside Uganda.
Africa CDC official, Wessam Mankoula, said Nigeria and Uganda were sharing information to establish the patient’s movements and possible source of exposure.
“So far, there is no validated information (that) this case traveled to DRC,” Mankoula said.
WHO emergency response manager, Patrick Otim, said the source of the patient’s infection remained unknown as health authorities worked to reconstruct her movements.
Investigators are also examining the health facilities she visited in Abuja after developing symptoms and before she was hospitalised 48 hours later.
The patient remains hospitalised, with her biochemical markers improving, according to medical report.
Africa CDC is also investigating whether the Nigerian patient could have had contact with Kenya’s first Ebola case, as both travelled from Entebbe Airport on the same day.
Meanwhile, Kenya has traced all 135 contacts linked to its first confirmed Ebola case, which was reported on October 6, 2026.
Eight additional cases have since been recorded.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected people and can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and severe bleeding.
The rare Ebola strain responsible for the current outbreak has a fatality rate of about 50 per cent and has no approved treatment or vaccine.
According to the Africa CDC, the outbreak has killed approximately 4,700 people across the four African countries that have reported cases.
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