The Federal Government on Tuesday confirmed a case of Ebola Virus Disease in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and began an emergency response that includes tracing 44 close contacts of the patient.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, disclosed this in a statement following laboratory confirmation of the case.
According to the minister, the patient is a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda.
She was admitted to a private hospital in the FCT, where she was treated for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed.
She is now in isolation and receiving medical care.
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the FCT Health Services Secretariat have intensified surveillance. The hospital where she was treated is also being supported to strengthen its infection prevention and control measures.
Public health teams are monitoring the 44 contacts identified so far, including healthcare workers, patients, caregivers and travel contacts. They are also working to identify others who may have been exposed.
The government directed all public and private health facilities nationwide to remain on high alert, and to isolate and promptly report suspected cases. Healthcare workers were urged to maintain a high index of suspicion to support early detection.
Pate urged Nigerians to remain calm. He advised regular handwashing and avoiding contact with the blood or other body fluids of anyone suspected of having Ebola. Symptoms to watch for include fever, severe weakness, headache, vomiting and diarrhoea. Anyone who suspects they were exposed should contact public health authorities immediately, even without symptoms.
The minister said Nigeria has the experience and public health capacity to handle the case, citing its containment of the 2014 outbreak.
The confirmation comes amid wider regional concern. In an advisory on October 6, the NCDC had warned of the risk of importing the infection after a confirmed case in Kenya linked to an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.