Nigeria's first Ebola patient had been on holiday in Uganda, officials report
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| Jean Kaseya (Director general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) |
Nigeria's first confirmed Ebola case since the outbreak in East Africa began in May is the wife of a diplomat who travelled to Kampala, Uganda, for a holiday, the head of Africa's health agency has told the BBC.
According to Dr Jean Kaseya of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the woman is originally from Uganda but lives in Abuja. She fell ill three days after returning to the Nigerian capital on 3 October.
Nigeria's health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, confirmed to the BBC that the 42-year-old patient spent two and a half weeks in Kampala and made a two-hour stopover in Ethiopia's capital on her return journey.
"She's stable, she's improving," Pate said.
The minister said authorities are working to prevent the virus from spreading and have identified 44 people who were in contact with the woman, who tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday.
"Not all of them have been in close proximity. We cast the net wide so that we contain it as broadly as possible," Pate told the BBC.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo said 46 people have been barred from boarding flights: the 44 who came into contact with the woman at hospital, plus two people who worked in her home.
He added that Nigeria has strengthened Ebola surveillance at its international airports after confirming its first case in more than a decade. The measures include health screenings, temperature checks, tracking of travellers' movements and digital health declarations. Neighbouring Cameroon has also stepped up surveillance at its airports and ports.
The health minister said none of the contacts, who are now in isolation, are known to have developed symptoms, including the person who travelled with the patient. He added that she has not left Abuja since landing.
Timeline of her illness
Kaseya said the woman first developed symptoms on 6 October and sought medical help.
"She went to the first hospital, a private hospital, thinking that she had malaria, and then she went to the second private hospital. She was admitted on the 11th," he told the BBC's Newshour programme.
Malaria is endemic in Nigeria, and its symptoms (high temperature, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhoea) resemble those of Ebola.
When her condition did not improve, public health authorities were alerted on Monday 19 October, Pate said. Three laboratory tests confirmed the diagnosis the following day.
She is infected with the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, the same one behind the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, that outbreak has caused at least 4,600 deaths and more than 9,500 recorded cases.
About the disease
The incubation period for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days, so people exposed to the virus may not become ill for several weeks.
Ebola is a rare but deadly viral disease. As it progresses, patients develop vomiting and diarrhoea, and it can lead to organ failure. Some, but not all, experience internal and external bleeding. It spreads between people through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.
The Bundibugyo species is relatively rare and has no approved vaccine or treatment, although trials are under way.
Conflicting accounts
Soon after the outbreak was announced, cases were also reported in Uganda, where at least two people died. Uganda declared itself free of the disease in August after its last patient was discharged.
There have been conflicting accounts of the patient and her movements. The comments from Pate and Kaseya contradict an earlier statement from Uganda's health ministry, which described the woman as a Nigerian national who travelled to eastern DR Congo on business and only transited through Uganda. The ministry insisted there are currently no confirmed active Ebola cases in the country and that her passage through Uganda does not mean she contracted the virus there.
Nigeria's health minister and the Africa CDC chief have sought to play down any tension.
Pate said Nigerian officials are working with Uganda, Ethiopia and the Africa CDC to establish the full facts.
"We respect our sister nation of Uganda," he said. "We have very strong solidarity, we are all in it together."
Kaseya also urged African countries to share information, saying this would help investigators trace the woman's movements and establish where she might have contracted the virus. He encouraged Western countries not to impose travel restrictions, saying "collaboration and solidarity" were the way to help stop the current outbreak.
The disease has recently spread to Kenya, which has reported at least nine infections. On Monday, the US advised its citizens to reconsider travel to Kenya because of health risks and raised the country's travel advisory level.
Pate expressed confidence in Nigeria's ability to repeat its earlier success in containing Ebola, citing strengthened disease surveillance, better laboratories and thousands of trained epidemiologists.
"Nigeria has muscle memory that has been activated, but we are not fighting the past outbreak in the exactly the same way. We have to be vigilant," he said.
Source: BBC
