Nigeria confirms Ebola case in Abuja as Kenya reports ninth infection

Nigeria has confirmed an Ebola case in its capital, Abuja, after a woman who arrived from Uganda tested positive, the country’s Health Ministry said Tuesday. Authorities are tracing 44 people identified as her contacts as an outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo reaches more countries.

The woman began showing symptoms on October 7 and was admitted to a private hospital in Abuja on October 11, where she was later diagnosed with Ebola. Health Minister Muhammad Pate said the government had begun tracing people who may have been exposed.

“We are doing everything possible to contain this case by tracing all the contacts the individual may have had,” Pate said.

Uganda had previously reported Ebola cases but was later declared free of the virus. Nigeria’s case follows infections in Kenya, which confirmed its ninth case on Tuesday. Kenya’s Health Ministry said the latest patient, a 24-year-old man, was already in quarantine when he became ill. He is a close family member of the country’s first Ebola patient, who had travelled from Congo through Uganda before arriving in Kenya and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5.

“He was isolated at the first sign of illness, tested and started on treatment immediately upon confirmation of his positive test result,” the Kenyan ministry said.

All nine Kenyan cases are part of one cluster, with no evidence of transmission outside it, Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth said. Eight patients are stable and responding well to treatment, he said, while 134 of 135 contacts have been traced and quarantined. Many contacts have remained well through the 21-day monitoring period and could return home from October 25. The ministry urged communities to welcome them back, saying they “pose no risk of infection.”

Kenya’s ministry said no infections had occurred inside quarantine facilities and that it was monitoring measures to protect health workers. The country has not imposed restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings.

Nigeria had already stepped up surveillance after Ebola was detected in Kenya. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said two weeks ago that its preparations focused on early detection, isolation, laboratory diagnosis, contact tracing and protecting health workers. Nigeria also established an Ebola task force in June after the outbreak began in Congo in mid-May.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control, warned on X that “we are facing an extremely serious threat,” citing a fatality rate of nearly 50%. He described the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak as the most geographically extensive in history, affecting countries across three regions of Africa.

NPR reported that the outbreak has infected more than 9,000 people and killed more than 4,300. Al Jazeera reported more than 9,000 cases and 4,000 deaths in Congo since May, and said the Bundibugyo strain has been difficult to contain because it has no licensed vaccine or specific treatment. NPR cited the World Health Organization as saying the outbreak is the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record and is on track to exceed the 2014–2016 West African outbreak, which killed 11,000 people. Nigeria recorded 20 cases during that outbreak before it was declared over in the country after three months.