Follow-Up: Nigeria Confirms First Imported Ebola Case in Over a Decade; Patient Arrived From Uganda, 44 Contacts Monitored
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on October 20 that Nigeria has recorded its first Ebola case in more than a decade, caused by the Bundibugyo strain. The patient is a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria from Uganda; her symptoms began on October 7, four days after arrival, she sought care at a private health facility in the capital, Abuja, on October 11, and laboratory testing confirmed the infection on October 20. She remains in isolation and is receiving care. Nigerian health authorities have identified 44 contacts who are being monitored, while investigations continue into the likely source of her infection and her full travel and exposure history.
Where she was infected remains under investigation. Uganda's health ministry said Uganda currently has no confirmed active Ebola cases and that the location where the woman was exposed is still being established; her travel from or through Uganda does not by itself prove she was infected there. Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has activated its incident management system, and WHO and partners are supporting case investigation, contact tracing and infection prevention in health facilities.
Nigeria is the fifth country to detect the Bundibugyo strain since the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared an outbreak on May 15. Congolese health authorities have recorded more than 9,500 cases and more than 4,200 deaths as of October 18, the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the country's history. Uganda's own earlier outbreak was declared over in late August; Kenya has reported nine cases linked to an imported infection and the Netherlands one linked case. There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain.
WHO urged countries in the region to maintain a high level of preparedness, surveillance, laboratory capacity and rapid-response readiness, and said it does not recommend travel or trade restrictions on affected countries.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 埃博拉病毒电镜图。Cynthia Goldsmith 摄，美国疾控中心 CDC 公共领域图片，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布／Electron micrograph of the Ebola virus. Photo by Cynthia Goldsmith, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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