Ebola case in Abuja: what residents need to know

What happened

The Federal Government confirmed one case of Ebola disease in the Federal Capital Territory on Tuesday, October 20, after a laboratory test. Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the patient is a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda. She is in isolation and receiving treatment.

She had been treated for several days at a private hospital in the FCT before the diagnosis was confirmed. Punch reported that her symptoms began on October 7 and that she went to the hospital on October 11.

Health authorities initially identified 44 contacts. On October 21, Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo ordered a no-fly restriction for at least 21 days covering 44 hospital contacts and two domestic staff. The restriction is precautionary, not confirmation of infection.

Uganda’s Ministry of Health said on October 20 that the woman had been in eastern DR Congo on business and passed through Uganda in early October without symptoms. It said Uganda has no confirmed active Ebola cases. Where she was infected has not been confirmed.

Why it matters

The case is linked to a wider outbreak. DR Congo had recorded more than 8,700 confirmed cases and more than 4,200 deaths by October 6, according to World Health Organization figures reported by Premium Times. Africa CDC says the outbreak, declared in May, is now the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak on record. WHO’s Nigeria outbreak statement reports nine cases in Kenya linked to an imported case.

WHO says laboratory testing confirmed Bundibugyo virus in the Abuja patient on October 20. The outbreak in DR Congo is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no licensed vaccine, Premium Times reported.

Because the patient spent several days in a private hospital before she was diagnosed, health workers and other patients there are among the people being monitored. The government has asked all public and private health facilities to stay alert, isolate suspected cases quickly and report them to public health authorities.

Nigeria has contained Ebola before. In 2014 the country recorded 19 confirmed cases, one probable case and eight deaths, and the World Health Organization declared it free of transmission on October 20 that year.

What happens next

Contact tracing and monitoring continue, alongside the aviation restriction covering 46 contacts. NCDC advises people who may have been exposed to watch their health for 21 days, the longest time it can take for symptoms to appear.

NCDC and the Presidential Task Force on Ebola will give further updates. We will update this explainer when case or contact figures change, or when investigators establish where the patient was infected.

Sources: Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (statement reported by Voice of Nigeria and Premium Times), NCDC, Uganda Ministry of Health, Africa CDC, Punch, Premium Times.