The first Ebola case detected in Nigeria is the Bundibugyo strain, which is behind a major DR Congo outbreak, and the patient is a diplomat. An emergency meeting was held on Wednesday as South Africa takes steps to prevent the virus.
The case in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, was detected in a woman who had travelled from Uganda to the capital Abuja on October 3, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said.
Since the Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-May, the deadly viral haemorrhagic fever has spread to several countries across the continent, including to neighbouring Uganda.
"We did three levels of tests, but all molecular. The strain was Bundibugyo," Olajumoke Babatunde, director of the public health laboratory service at the NCDC said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also confirmed that it was the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is still neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment.
"This person is actually a diplomat," another official said, adding the patient has deteriorated into "multi-organ failure".
The director general of Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, warned on Tuesday of "an extremely serious threat" as Kenya also declared its ninth Ebola case.
In several months, the DRC's Ebola epidemic has become the deadliest in the country's history, killing 4,381 people out of more than 9,000 confirmed cases, according to the health authorities.
Nigeria has identified 44 contacts and is intensifying efforts to find others who may have been exposed.
The WHO said in a statement that infection prevention and control was being "ramped up" at the private hospital where the patient sought care.
As the virus spreads throughout the continent, South Africa is already taking preventative action.
Although no Ebola cases have been found in South Africa, the nation is still on high alert, according to Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.
The nation has trained thousands of medical personnel and selected 36 public and private hospitals to handle prospective patients. - Additional Reporting by Staff Reporter
AFP