After Nigeria confirmed an imported Bundibugyo Ebola case, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or Africa CDC, sought international aid as the outbreak reached a fifth country.
The patient, a woman who recently traveled from Uganda, was receiving care in isolation in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare said. As of its Oct. 20 report, the ministry had identified 44 people for contact monitoring.
Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya asked international partners for flexible funding, medical supplies, diagnostic equipment and trained responders, as well as stronger community surveillance. In a post on X, he said Africa CDC was organizing support for Nigeria, stepping up its response in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and remaining on heightened alert in Uganda.
The World Health Organization (WHO), citing Nigeria’s health ministry, said a laboratory confirmed the infection Oct. 20 after the woman sought care at a private Abuja facility on Oct. 11. Her symptoms began Oct. 7, four days after she arrived in Nigeria.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention activated its incident management system. Infection-control measures at the private facility were being strengthened, WHO said.
The DRC outbreak was declared May 15. WHO counted 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 confirmed deaths there as of Oct. 6, a crude case fatality ratio of 48.2%. WHO said no vaccine or specific treatment is approved for Bundibugyo virus disease.
WHO said investigators were tracing the woman’s movements and seeking to establish where she was infected. Uganda’s health ministry said preliminary information indicated she had traveled to eastern DRC for business before passing through Uganda without symptoms in early October. It cautioned that her transit did not establish where exposure occurred.
