OMM Newsroom
The Nigerian government announced on Oct. 20 that an Ebola case had been confirmed in Abuja, the country’s capital.
“Operative Information Center-OMM” reports that Reuters reported the development.
Nigeria’s health minister said the infected woman had travelled to Nigeria from Uganda.
She is currently in isolation and receiving medical care. Authorities have identified 44 people who had contact with her.
According to information released by Uganda’s Ministry of Health late on the evening of Oct. 20, the woman had travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a business trip. She arrived in Nigeria via Uganda in early October without showing symptoms. Signs of the disease appeared after she reached Nigeria.
The ministry stressed that the woman’s transit through Uganda does not mean she contracted the virus there. No confirmed Ebola cases had been recorded in Uganda at the time.
An Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in mid-May. It was the second-largest outbreak on record. The disease was caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain.
As of Oct. 19, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had recorded 9,552 Ebola cases, with 4,602 deaths.
Uganda recorded 20 cases in May and June, most of which were reportedly imported from the Congo. The World Health Organization said in August that the virus had been brought under control in Uganda.
In addition, nine Ebola cases were recorded in Kenya in October. All were linked to a person who had arrived from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and died on Oct. 5.
