Nigeria's first Ebola patient holidayed in Uganda, officials say

ByMakuochi Okafor, BBC Africa and Simi Jolaoso, Africa correspondent, Reporting fromLagos.

Key points

• After her condition failed to improve, public health authorities were alerted on Monday 19 October, Pate remarked.
• Pate remarked Nigerian office-holders were working with Uganda, Ethiopia and the Africa CDC to establish the full facts.
• The incubation period for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days, meaning those exposed to the virus may not become ill for a number of weeks.
• The outbreak in DR Congo has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola.
• Why Uganda is winning the battle against Ebola as virus spreads in DR Congo.

Nigeria's first confirmed case of Ebola since the outbreak in East Africa began in May is the wife of a diplomat who travelled to Uganda's capital for a holiday, the head of Africa's health agency has informed the BBC.

Meanwhile, the woman is originally from Uganda but based in Abuja, where she fell ill three days after arriving home in the Nigerian capital on 3 October, according to Dr Jean Kaseya from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nigeria's health minister has confirmed to the BBC the 42-year-old patient spent two and a half weeks in Kampala, adding that she additionally produced a two-hour stopover in Ethiopia's capital on her return. "She's stable, she's improving, " Muhammad Ali Pate remarked.

In practice, the authorities were working to prevent the virus from spreading and had identified 44 individuals who had been in contact with the woman. This person tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday, the minister stated.

"Not all of them have been in close proximity. We cast the net wide so that we contain it as broadly as feasible, " Pate informed the BBC. Is Ebola under control in Kenya after nine cases confirmed?

What is Ebola and why is stopping the latest outbreak so tough?

None of the contacts, who are now in isolation, are known to have developed symptoms, including the person the patient travelled with, the health minister remarked, adding that the woman had not travelled outside Abuja since landing.

Kaseya explained that the woman had first developed symptoms on 6 October when she had sought medical support.

"She went to the first hospital, a private hospital, thinking that she had malaria, and then she went to the second private hospital. She was admitted on the 11th, " he informed the BBC's Newshour programme.

Malaria is endemic in Nigeria and its symptoms – a high temperature, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and or diarrhoea – are similar to those of Ebola.

Her diagnosis was confirmed the next day after three laboratory tests, he stated.

Notably, the incubation period for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days, meaning those exposed to the virus may not become ill for a number of weeks.

Ebola is a rare but deadly disease, external caused by a virus. As the disease progresses, vomiting and diarrhoea develop and it can lead to organ failure. Some, but not all, patients develop internal and external bleeding.

In practice, the disease spreads from one person to another by contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.

For context, the outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo. It began in May, has asserted at least 4, 600 lives, with more than 9, 500 cases recorded, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reports, external.

Shortly after the outbreak was confirmed, it was additionally documented in Uganda, where at least two residents died. Uganda declared itself free of the disease in August after its last patient was discharged.

There have been conflicting accounts regarding the patient in Nigeria and her movements.

Pate and Kaseya's comments contradict a statement issued earlier by the Ugandan ministry of health. It described the woman as a Nigerian national who had gone to eastern DR Congo for business, only transiting through Uganda.

It insisted there were at present no confirmed active Ebola cases in the country 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 have sought to play down any tension.

"We respect our sister nation of Uganda, " he remarked. "We have very strong solidarity, we are all in it together."

Kaseya additionally called on African countries to share information, saying this would support investigators trace the woman's movements and establish where she might have contracted the virus.

And he encouraged Western countries not to impose travel restrictions, saying "collaboration and solidarity" were the way to support stop the current outbreak.

For context, the disease lately spread to Kenya. It has noted at least nine infections.

On Monday, the US advised its citizens to reconsider travel to Kenya since of health risks and raised its travel advisory level for the country.

In 2014, Nigeria successfully contained an Ebola outbreak. It had resulted in 20 confirmed cases and eight deaths.

Pate expressed confidence in the country's ability to repeat that success, citing strengthened disease surveillance, laboratories and thousands of trained epidemiologists.

"Nigeria has muscle memory that has been activated, but we are not fighting the past outbreak in the exactly the same way. We have to be vigilant, " he remarked.

Notably, the outbreak in DR Congo has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola. It is relatively rare, with no approved vaccine or treatment – though trials are under way. Extra reporting by Timothy Obiezu and Lucy Fleming. More from the BBC on the Ebola outbreak.

'I buried my parents one day after the other' – Ebola mourners learn how to grieve safely. Questions remain over Ebola patient who travelled throughout three nations undetected.

Go to BBCAfrica.com, external for more news from the African continent.

For now, nigeria' s first Ebola patient holidayed in Uganda, officials say remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.