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The Federal Government has provided an update on the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola following confirmation of the first case in Nigeria.
The case was detected in a female diplomat who travelled from Uganda to Abuja on October 3, according to information presented at an emergency meeting on Wednesday.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) confirmed that laboratory tests identified the Bundibugyo strain, which has also been linked to a major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).
Olajumoke Babatunde, director of public health laboratory services at the NCDC, said the agency conducted three levels of molecular testing to establish the strain responsible for the infection.
“We did three levels of tests, but all molecular. The strain was Bundibugyo,” Babatunde said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) also confirmed the strain, which currently has no specific treatment or approved vaccine.
An official at the emergency meeting disclosed that the patient’s condition had deteriorated into multi-organ failure. However, the official did not reveal the diplomat’s nationality.
Following the confirmation, Nigerian health authorities identified 44 contacts linked to the case and began monitoring them while intensifying efforts to identify other people who might have been exposed to the virus.
The WHO said infection prevention and control measures were being strengthened at the private hospital where the patient sought medical attention.
The development comes amid a wider Ebola outbreak that has spread across parts of Africa, including the DR Congo and Uganda.
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The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya, warned on Tuesday that the outbreak posed an extremely serious threat.
He described the Bundibugyo outbreak as the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history, affecting multiple countries across three African regions.
Kaseya also appealed to the international community to respond urgently to the outbreak.
In the DR Congo, health authorities have reported more than 9,000 confirmed cases and 4,381 deaths, with the fatality rate approaching 50 per cent.
Uganda, which had previously recorded 20 cases, was declared Ebola-free by the WHO in August after bringing its outbreak under control.
Nigeria last experienced an Ebola outbreak in 2014, when authorities successfully contained the spread of the virus.
Reacting to the latest development, a civil servant, Anthony Ojogho, expressed confidence in the government’s ability to manage the situation.
“Nigerian governments have always been equal to the task. We contained Ebola, we contained coronavirus and the few cases we have now,” he said.
He added that effective preventive measures would help limit the spread of the virus.
“If the right steps are being taken, I’m very sure that we’re going to contain to a large extent the spread of Ebola virus in Nigeria,” Ojogho said.
