Nigeria confirms an Ebola case in Abuja: what Houston’s Nigerian community should know
Photo: Kritzolina via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade, an imported infection in Abuja that health officials say is contained so far. For Houston’s large Nigerian community, the news raises immediate questions about relatives back home and about travel during the holiday season, when many families fly to Lagos and Abuja. Here is what is known, and what it means for travelers.
The case in Abuja
Nigerian health authorities said the patient is a 42-year-old woman based in Abuja, who was born in Uganda and is the wife of a diplomat. She returned to Nigeria on Oct. 3 after spending about two and a half weeks in Kampala, Uganda, traveling with a short stopover of roughly two hours in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to the timeline released by officials, she developed symptoms on Oct. 6 and was admitted to a hospital on Oct. 11. Authorities were alerted on Oct. 19, and laboratory testing confirmed Ebola on Oct. 20. The strain is Bundibugyo virus, one of the species that cause Ebola disease, and the same type behind the large outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate has said the patient’s condition is improving. “She’s stable, she’s improving,” he said in remarks reported by news outlets. Officials have identified 44 contacts, including hospital workers, other patients, caregivers and people she traveled with. High-risk contacts have been quarantined, and others are being monitored. The government says there is no evidence of community spread.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo said 46 people have been placed on a no-fly list for the 21-day monitoring period, the maximum incubation time for Ebola.
Uganda’s health ministry has disputed parts of the account of where the woman was infected, and the investigation into the source is continuing.
A regional outbreak
The Abuja case is connected to a much larger crisis in Central and East Africa. The outbreak in the DRC has caused more than 9,500 cases and at least 4,600 deaths, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Kenya has reported at least nine infections. Unlike the Zaire strain of Ebola, for which vaccines are available, there is no approved vaccine for Bundibugyo, which has made containment harder.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, led by Director General Jean Kaseya, has been coordinating the regional response.
Nigeria has done this before
Nigerian officials have pointed to the country’s experience in 2014, when a traveler from Liberia brought Ebola to Lagos. That outbreak was stopped after 20 cases and eight deaths, an effort widely credited to fast contact tracing and isolation. We looked at how Lagos contained Ebola in 2014 earlier this month.
“Nigeria has muscle memory,” Pate said, referring to the lessons and systems built during that response.
What it means for travel from Houston
For now, Nigeria is not on the list of countries subject to U.S. entry restrictions tied to the outbreak, according to guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued Oct. 22.
The rules for travelers are tightening, however. Under the CDC guidance:
- Beginning after 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 3, all international passengers flying to the United States must attest that they have not been in the DRC in the previous 21 days.
- Travelers who have been in the DRC are barred from entry.
- Non-U.S. citizens who have been in Uganda or South Sudan are barred.
- U.S. citizens returning from affected areas are being routed through Washington Dulles, Atlanta or New York JFK for screening.
Houston travelers headed to Nigeria for weddings, burials or the holidays should keep an eye on airline and government notices, since rules can change quickly. Those with connections through East African hubs should check whether their route passes through affected countries.
Staying in touch with family
Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control has a toll-free hotline, 6232, for people in Nigeria with symptoms or questions. Relatives in Nigeria who develop fever, weakness, vomiting, diarrhea or unexplained bleeding after contact with a suspected case should call the hotline rather than going directly to a clinic, so health workers can take precautions.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a sick person, or with contaminated objects, not through the air. People are not contagious before they show symptoms. For most Houstonians, the risk is very low, but for families with ties to Abuja, the coming weeks of monitoring will be watched closely.
By 
By 
By