Africa
Nigeria confirms first Ebola case as WHO tracks 44 contacts and the Congo outbreak spreads to an eighth province
WHO says a woman who travelled from Uganda tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo virus in Abuja, the fifth country to detect the disease since the Congo outbreak began in May.
Nigeria has confirmed its first case of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on 21 October, making it the fifth country to detect the disease since an outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in mid-May.
According to WHO, the patient is a woman who recently travelled from Uganda. She began showing symptoms on 7 October, four days after her arrival, sought care at a private health facility in the capital, Abuja, on 11 October, and was confirmed by laboratory testing on 20 October. She remains in isolation and is receiving medical care while investigators try to establish the likely source of her infection and reconstruct her travel and exposure history.
Contact tracing under way
WHO said the Nigerian health authorities have identified 44 contacts, who are being monitored, and are stepping up efforts to find anyone else who may have been exposed. Infection prevention and control measures are being reinforced at the private facility where the woman was treated. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has activated its incident management system, and WHO is helping with case investigation, contact tracing and supplies, including protective equipment for health workers.
Speaking in an online briefing on 22 October, WHO emergency official Dr Patrick Otim said the source of exposure was still unknown and that the situation was “rapidly evolving”. Genetic sequencing is under way to confirm whether the infection is the same Bundibugyo virus circulating in the Congo, according to the UN account of the briefing.
The wider outbreak
The Congolese outbreak, declared in mid-May, is described by UN News as the deadliest in the country’s history. Figures differ between UN reports according to their cut-off dates: WHO cited more than 9,500 cases and more than 4,200 deaths as of 18 October, based on Congolese health authority data, while the later UN briefing report spoke of 9,552 confirmed infections and more than 4,600 deaths. WHO has said there is currently no vaccine against this virus, and research on vaccines is continuing inside the Congo.
The outbreak has now reached an eighth Congolese province, Nord Ubangi, which borders the Central African Republic, where the UN notes that continuing armed violence is uprooting thousands of people and makes it harder to stop transmission. Around six in ten of the deaths in the Congo have occurred outside health centres, the UN reported, a sign that community transmission remains hard to contain.
Beyond Nigeria, Kenya has reported nine cases, including one death earlier this month, according to the UN. Kenya’s Director General of Health, Dr Patrick Amoth, said 135 contacts of the deceased patient had been traced and accounted for. Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths before declaring its outbreak over at the end of August, while WHO also lists one case in the Netherlands linked to the Congo outbreak. The UN account of the 22 October briefing also names France among the countries that have confirmed the disease.
Advice to governments
WHO advised all countries in the region to stay at a high level of readiness, keep strong disease surveillance and make sure laboratories can safely test suspected cases. The agency has not recommended any restrictions on travel or trade with the affected countries.
The instability in the east of the Congo, where the Ebola response operates, has been a recurring theme in the UN Security Council. Geopolitiki reported last week on the UN envoy’s warning to the Council in Eastern DR Congo: UN envoy tells Security Council the situation “has continued to worsen” despite Washington and Doha tracks. WHO’s other emergency operations this week, in northern Ethiopia, are covered in WHO scales up emergency health response in Afar, Amhara and Tigray, delivering 71 tonnes of supplies.
Sources: UN News reports of 21 October and 22 October 2026, citing WHO and the Nigerian and Kenyan health authorities.
