Nigeria’s first Ebola case matches DR Congo strain, health officials say

The Bundibugyo strain outbreak is the DR Congo’s deadliest ever and has now reached West Africa for the first time.

Al Jazeera2026-10-21 23:20查看原文 ↗

Bundibugyo strain has now affected four African nations, and become the DR Congo’s deadliest in recorded history.

People walk out of an office at the headquarters of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) in Abuja, Nigeria, on October 21, 2026 [Marvellous Durowaiye/Reuters]

Nigerian health officials say test results have confirmed the country’s first case of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind a major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), marking the disease’s first spread to West Africa in the current outbreak.

The case involves a woman who travelled from Uganda to the capital, Abuja, on October 3, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said.

list 1 of 3 DR Congo Ebola cases pass 9,000 as efforts to curb transmission falter

list 2 of 3 Kenya’s Ebola cases test preparedness beyond Nairobi

list 3 of 3 Nigeria confirms first Ebola case amid concerns about continental spread

She was tested for Ebola on October 19 after health officials learned she had recently travelled to Uganda, one of the countries affected by the current outbreak. Officials confirmed the positive result on Tuesday.

“We did three levels of tests, but all molecular. The strain was Bundibugyo,” Olajumoke Babatunde, director of the public health laboratory service at the NCDC, said on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) also confirmed the strain, for which there is neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment.

‘Multi-organ failure’

An unnamed official told the AFP news agency that the woman is a diplomat whose condition has deteriorated into “multi-organ failure”.

Ayoade Alakija, a Nigerian physician who co-chairs a G7 committee for investment in global health, said that it had taken 12 days since the woman fell sick for her to be tested for Ebola, potentially exposing many other people to the infection.

Nigerian authorities have identified 44 contacts, most of them healthcare workers. They include the patient’s husband, a Swiss national, who lives with her in Abuja.

Officials are also tracing passengers who travelled with her from Uganda to Nigeria but do not believe she was symptomatic during the flight.

Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate told public broadcaster NTA that the woman was in isolation and receiving treatment.

In 2014, the first Nigerian case, detected in Lagos, raised fears the virus would spread rapidly, but it was brought under control within three months, resulting in 20 infections and eight deaths.

That epidemic killed more than 11,000 people across West Africa between late 2013 and 2016.

The WHO says Nigeria is the fifth country to detect the virus in the outbreak, which this past week widened across the continent, with Kenya in the east reporting nine cases since October 6.

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said on X on Wednesday that the outbreak was “no longer one country’s fight”, and that he would hold a meeting of Africa’s health ministers next week to strengthen the cross-border response and review hospital capacity.

The DRC is the epicentre of the outbreak, its deadliest on record.

There have been more than 9,000 Ebola cases and more than 4,000 deaths there since mid-May.

邦迪布焦毒株目前已影响到四个非洲国家，并成为刚果民主共和国有记录以来最致命的毒株。

2026年10月21日，人们走出位于尼日利亚阿布贾的尼日利亚疾病控制和预防中心（NCDC）总部办公室。[Marvellous Durowaiye/路透社]

尼日利亚卫生官员表示，检测结果证实了该国首例邦迪布焦埃博拉病毒株病例，该病毒株是刚果民主共和国（刚果（金））大规模疫情的罪魁祸首，标志着该疾病在当前疫情中首次蔓延至西非。

尼日利亚疾病控制和预防中心（NCDC）表示，该病例涉及一名于10月3日从乌干达前往首都阿布贾的女子。

刚果民主共和国埃博拉病例超过9000例，遏制病毒传播的努力受挫（列表1/3）

肯尼亚埃博拉病例清单之二（共3例）：内罗毕以外的检测准备情况

尼日利亚确诊首例埃博拉病例，引发对疫情在非洲大陆蔓延的担忧（共3条，此为第3条）。

10月19日，卫生官员得知她近期曾前往受埃博拉疫情影响的国家之一乌干达后，对她进行了埃博拉病毒检测。官员于周二确认了检测结果呈阳性。

“我们进行了三级检测，但都是分子检测。毒株是邦迪布吉奥毒株，”尼日利亚疾病控制中心公共卫生实验室服务主任奥拉朱莫克·巴巴通德周三表示。

世界卫生组织（世卫组织）也确认了这种毒株，目前既没有疫苗也没有特效药。