Nigeria traces first current Ebola case to Kampala trip as contact tracing begins

Nigeria’s first confirmed Ebola case during the current regional outbreak is a 42-year-old woman who travelled to Kampala for a holiday, according to Nigeria’s health minister and the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The woman, who is originally from Uganda and lives in Abuja, returned to Nigeria on 3 October after spending two and a half weeks in Kampala. She travelled through Ethiopia and spent two hours in Addis Ababa, officials said.

She developed symptoms three days after reaching Abuja and has not travelled outside the Nigerian capital since her return. Africa CDC director-general Jean Kaseya said the patient initially sought treatment at a private hospital, believing she had malaria. She was admitted to another private hospital on 11 October after her condition failed to improve.

Public health authorities were alerted on 19 October, and three laboratory tests confirmed Ebola the following day. Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the woman was stable and responding to treatment. Authorities have identified 44 people who came into contact with her and placed them in isolation or under monitoring.

None, including the person who travelled with her, had developed symptoms when the reports were published. The patient’s movements and possible source of infection remain uncertain. Uganda’s Ministry of Health gave a different account, describing her as a Nigerian national who had travelled to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for business and had only passed through Uganda on her way home.

Uganda also said the woman’s transit did not establish that she contracted Ebola there and maintained that it had no active confirmed cases. Pate said Nigerian officials were working with Uganda, Ethiopia and the Africa CDC to establish the complete travel history. He said Nigeria respected Uganda and that the countries were working together.

Kaseya urged African states to share information so investigators could identify potential exposures and asked Western countries not to impose travel restrictions, arguing that cooperation was more useful to containing the outbreak. The case comes as Ebola continues to spread across the region. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has reported more than 9,500 cases and about 4,600 deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kenya has reported nine cases in a single known cluster, while Uganda declared its earlier outbreak over in August after its last patient was discharged. Officials said Ebola can incubate for two to 21 days and spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated materials. Symptoms can resemble malaria, which is common in Nigeria.

Pate expressed confidence in Nigeria’s surveillance, laboratories and trained epidemiologists, citing the country’s successful containment of a 2014 outbreak, but said authorities would need to remain vigilant because the current situation was not identical.