Health officials are investigating the travel history of Nigeria’s first confirmed Ebola patient after accounts of her movements in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) diverged.
Nigeria’s health minister said none of the woman’s contacts, who are now in isolation, were known to have developed symptoms. That included the person who had travelled with her, he added, saying the patient had not left Abuja since arriving in the country.
Africa CDC chief Kaseya said the woman first developed symptoms on 6 October and sought medical assistance.
“She went to a private hospital, thinking she had malaria, and then to a second private hospital. She was admitted on the 11th,” he told the BBC’s Newshour programme.
Malaria is endemic in Nigeria, and its symptoms—including high fever, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and diarrhoea—are similar to those of Ebola.
After her condition failed to improve, public health authorities were alerted on Monday, 19 October, the health minister said.
Her diagnosis was confirmed the following day after three laboratory tests.
The incubation period for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days, meaning people exposed to the virus may not become ill for several weeks.
Ebola is a rare but potentially fatal disease caused by a virus. As it progresses, patients can develop vomiting, diarrhoea and organ failure. Some patients, though not all, experience internal or external bleeding.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, including blood and vomit.
The outbreak in the DRC, which began in May, has claimed at least 4,600 lives and recorded more than 9,500 cases, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Uganda reported at least two deaths shortly after the outbreak was announced. The country declared itself free of the disease in August after discharging its last patient.
Details of the Nigerian patient’s movements have since been the subject of conflicting accounts.
Comments from the Nigerian health minister and the Africa CDC chief contradicted an earlier statement from Uganda’s health ministry, which described the woman as a Nigerian national who had travelled to eastern DR Congo for business and had only transited through Uganda.
Uganda’s ministry insisted that the country had no confirmed active Ebola cases and that the woman’s passage through Uganda did not mean she had contracted the virus there.
Nigeria’s health minister and the Africa CDC chief subsequently sought to ease tensions between the countries.
The health minister said Nigerian officials were working with Uganda, Ethiopia and the Africa CDC to establish the full circumstances surrounding the case.
“We respect our sister nation of Uganda. We have strong solidarity, and we are all in this together,” he said.
Kaseya also urged African countries to share information so investigators could trace the woman’s movements and determine where she may have contracted the virus.
He encouraged Western countries not to impose travel restrictions, saying collaboration and solidarity were essential to stopping the outbreak.
The disease has recently spread to Kenya, where at least nine infections have been reported.
On Monday, the United States advised its citizens to reconsider travel to Kenya because of health risks and raised the country’s travel advisory level.
Nigeria successfully contained an Ebola outbreak in 2014 that resulted in 20 confirmed cases and eight deaths.
The health minister expressed confidence that the country could repeat that success, citing strengthened disease surveillance, laboratory capacity and thousands of trained epidemiologists.
“Nigeria has muscle memory that has been activated, but we are not fighting the past outbreak in exactly the same way. We have to be vigilant,” he said.
The DRC outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which is relatively rare and has no approved vaccine or treatment, although clinical trials are under way.