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African health ministers have been invited to an extraordinary virtual meeting on Oct. 28 to coordinate a response after Nigeria reported its first confirmed case of Ebola linked to a traveler from Uganda, officials said, as the disease continues to spread across parts of central and east Africa.
The invitation was issued by Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), who said the meeting would help “strengthen our collective response.” The currently unfolding outbreak was first detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in May and has since expanded to multiple countries, public health agencies say.
Details of Nigeria’s case and contact tracing
Nigerian authorities said the patient was a foreign national who entered the country on Oct. 5 and was initially treated for malaria before failing to improve, prompting clinicians to seek further investigation, Odianosen Ehiakhamen, an assistant director at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), told a local media outlet. The NCDC said investigators have identified 44 contacts, mostly health-care workers, and that the patient’s spouse is a Swiss national.
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Ugandan officials, who had declared themselves Ebola-free in July after recording 20 cases, denied claims that Nigeria’s reported case originated in Uganda, according to published accounts. Kenya has also recorded cases linked to travelers who passed through Uganda; Kenyan authorities have reported nine cases.
Scale and nature of the outbreak
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the outbreak has infected more than 9,500 people and killed nearly half of them, making it the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record. In a post on X, Kaseya warned: “Ebola is now affecting three regions of Africa. The situation demands urgent action and political leadership at the highest level.”
The WHO on Wednesday advised “all countries in the region to sustain a high level of readiness as the DRC outbreak continues to evolve,” the agency said. In parts of the DRC, including North Kivu, health authorities report that the virus is out of control in some areas, with most recorded deaths occurring in the community and contact tracing struggling to keep pace.
Virus type and available medical tools
Public health agencies say the outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo variant of the Ebola virus. Unlike the Zaire ebolavirus strain for which experimental vaccines and treatments have been used in recent years, there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for Bundibugyo, WHO and regional officials have warned. France has also reported a case linked to the outbreak.
Officials convening on Oct. 28 are expected to discuss measures to bolster surveillance, speed up contact tracing and coordinate cross-border responses as infections linked to travel continue to appear in multiple countries, according to statements from Africa CDC and the WHO cited by news outlets.
