Nigeria says two suspected Ebola cases in Adamawa tested negative

Two suspected Ebola cases identified in northeastern Nigeria have tested negative after two rounds of laboratory testing, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said. The result means there is currently no laboratory-confirmed Ebola case in Adamawa State, according to a statement reported by Premium Times. The individuals presented with symptoms suggestive of Ebola in Yola on October 30.

The NCDC had initially announced that two suspected cases had been identified in the northeast without naming the state. Al Jazeera reported that both people were isolated while authorities began contact identification, listing and laboratory testing. NCDC Director-General Jide Idris said the samples had “fortunately” tested negative for Ebola virus after the two rounds of testing.

The agency said Nigeria’s only confirmed case remains the infection previously reported in the Federal Capital Territory. The reports therefore distinguish between the investigation in Adamawa and the confirmed case in Abuja, rather than describing the new patients as additional infections. Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade on October 20.

Premium Times reported that the patient was a woman who had travelled from Uganda to Abuja and tested positive for the Bundibugyo virus. She was later medically evacuated to Switzerland for continued treatment. Al Jazeera said the woman and her husband, a Swiss diplomat, were evacuated to Switzerland on Monday.

The NCDC has identified 62 contacts linked to Nigeria’s confirmed case and was monitoring them, according to the agency’s latest situation report cited by Premium Times. Health Minister Muhammad Pate said genomic analysis showed that the virus detected in the Nigerian patient was closely related to the strain identified in Kenya’s first imported case, while stressing that this did not establish that the infection was acquired in Kenya. The investigation comes as the Bundibugyo outbreak remains concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but has spread internationally.

Premium Times, citing the World Health Organization, reported 10,274 confirmed cases and 4,992 deaths in the DRC as of October 28. It also reported nine confirmed cases and two deaths in Kenya. Al Jazeera said the strain had been reported in the DRC, Uganda, France, Kenya and Nigeria.

The accounts differ in their emphasis on the wider outbreak totals. Al Jazeera described more than 10,300 confirmed cases in the DRC and more than 5,000 deaths since May, while Premium Times gave the WHO’s lower, date-specific figures. Both reports said the outbreak began in the DRC in May.

Al Jazeera also reported that there is no approved treatment or vaccine for this strain, while vaccine trials are under way. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has called for stronger protection for frontline workers after two young Congolese doctors died from Ebola in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, Al Jazeera reported. Authorities have also identified weaknesses in early detection and contact tracing in the DRC, where only about 12 percent of confirmed cases were found among previously known contacts.