Nigeria detects Ebola in nation’s capital, traces 44 contacts

It stressed that there are currently no active Ebola cases in Uganda and that investigations are continuing to determine where the infection occurred.

Nigeria becomes the latest African country to report an Ebola case as the current Bundibugyo strain outbreak continues to spread across the continent.

Kenya confirmed its first infection earlier this month and has since recorded nine cases, while Uganda recently declared an end to its previous Ebola outbreak.

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya warned that the outbreak poses a significant public health threat.

“We are facing an extremely serious threat,” he said, noting that the Bundibugyo strain has a fatality rate of nearly 50 percent and has become the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak on record, affecting several countries across three African regions.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said it had already intensified surveillance measures following Ebola cases reported in Kenya, focusing on early detection, laboratory testing, isolation, infection prevention, contact tracing and protection of health workers.

Nigeria also established an Ebola taskforce in June after the outbreak emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo in May.

Health experts say the spread of the virus beyond Congo has raised concerns about the rapid transmission of the Bundibugyo strain, which has infected more than 9,500 people and claimed over 4,600 lives.

The World Health Organization has warned that the current outbreak is the fastest-spreading on record and could surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic, which killed more than 11,000 people.

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