Nigeria's Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed that the country had recorded its first known case of Ebola in the current outbreak. A woman who recently arrived from Uganda tested positive for the virus.
The outbreak is thought to have started in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, not far from the Ugandan border, with Uganda the second country to record infections. It also recently spread to Kenya in limited numbers, with nine known cases recorded this month.
The overwhelming majority of known cases, however, remain confined to the DRC, particularly its eastern provinces.
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Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said that the patient was a woman who had "recently arrived on an international flight from Uganda."
She first began to exhibit symptoms on October 7, and was admitted to a private Abuja hospital on October 11, before being tested and diagnosed with Ebola. He said authorities had already begun tracing 44 people identified as contacts of the patient.
"We are doing everything possible to contain this case by tracing all contacts the individual may have had," he said.
Nigeria's Center for Disease Control said two weeks ago that it was stepping up surveillance after the first recorded cases in Kenya, saying it was improving the country's preparedness for a possible outbreak.
"These efforts have focused on early detection, isolation and referral, laboratory diagnosis, infection prevention and control, contact tracing, risk communication and protection of healthcare workers," the agency said.
Over 9,000 cases in current outbreak, the fastest-growing on record
While Ebola does not spread as readily as highly contagious viruses like the flu or COVID, it is considerably more dangerous to those who do contract it.
The current outbreak, involving a lesser-known strain, the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus, has led to more than 9,000 confirmed cases and more than 4,300 deaths, a fatality rate of almost 50%.
Almost all the cases and deaths are confined to the DRC, even as more countries become involved. The first patient in Kenya died, and authorities believe the other eight known cases are all part of a cluster beginning with him. They say there's no sign of a spread beyond his contacts.
Uganda, which borders the Ituri province outbreak epicenter in DRC, reported 20 cases and two deaths quite much earlier this year. It was then declared Ebola-free in late August by the World Health Organization after reaching 42 days since a confirmed case. Tuesday's case in Nigeria could potentially put this status back into question, given the Health Ministry's comments on the patient's travel history.
This year's outbreak is already the second-largest on record and by far the fastest-spreading — although modestly improved testing and diagnostic capacity may also contribute to the higher numbers.
The West African Ebola epidemic of 2014-16 led to around 11,300 deaths from around 28,500 cases — but that was over a span of around 30 months. This outbreak was first declared in May of this year, although researchers believe it likely began in small numbers of cases several months earlier.
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Edited by: Sean Sinico
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