The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has provided a detailed timeline regarding the country’s newly confirmed imported case of the Ebola virus disease in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to Dr. Odianosen Ehiakhamen, Incident Manager of the National Ebola Disease Response, the patient—a woman who recently travelled from Uganda—arrived in Nigeria on October 5, began experiencing initial symptoms two days later on October 7, and formally presented herself at a private health facility in the FCT on October 11.

Initially, medical personnel treated the patient for malaria-like symptoms as her condition failed to improve. However, heightened clinical suspicion arose when attending doctors probed deeper into her recent travel history, prompting the facility to alert the NCDC event-based reporting system.

Rapid response teams were swiftly deployed to collect diagnostic samples, which were rushed to the laboratory under strict containment protocols. Preliminary and confirmatory tests ultimately tested positive for the Ebola virus, prompting the federal health ministry to officially announce the case.

In response to the development, health authorities have placed 44 primary contacts—predominantly healthcare workers and support staff who interacted with the patient at the private facility—under active surveillance and quarantine protocols.

Dr. Ehiakhamen noted that Nigeria had activated an Incident Management System preparedness structure earlier in May, positioning the country’s health infrastructure and leveraging the expertise of medical personnel experienced in previous outbreak responses to contain the virus and prevent community transmission.