Ebola: How months of Ebola preparedness helped Nigeria confirm first case within 24 hours — Minister

Nigeria’s months of preparation for a possible Ebola outbreak helped health authorities confirm the country’s first imported case within 24 hours, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has said.

Speaking on Arise News Television’s Prime Time programme on Wednesday, Mr Pate said the government had strengthened disease surveillance, expanded laboratory capacity, trained health workers and assessed states’ readiness before the case was detected.

He said these preparations enabled authorities to respond quickly, confirm the infection, and notify the World Health Organisation (WHO) in accordance with the International Health Regulations.

“Within 24 hours we were able to confirm it. We were able to notify the World Health Organisation as required by the International Health Regulations,” he said.

Mr Pate described the response as a continuation of Nigeria’s experience in managing public health emergencies, recalling how the country contained the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

He said Nigeria has since strengthened its emergency response capabilities, drawing on lessons and capacities developed during previous public health interventions, including the country’s polio eradication efforts.

Nigeria’s imported Ebola case

Nigeria confirmed an imported case of Ebola on Tuesday, involving a woman who recently arrived in the country on an international flight from Uganda.

The patient is receiving treatment in isolation at a private hospital in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, subsequently disclosed that the patient is the wife of a diplomat who travelled to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, for a holiday.

Mr Kaseya said the woman, originally from Uganda but resident in Abuja, developed symptoms three days after returning to Nigeria on 3 October.

As reported by PREMIUM TIMES, contact tracing commenced after the confirmation, with 44 close contacts initially identified, including healthcare workers, patients, caregivers and travel contacts.

The government has urged health facilities to remain alert, promptly identify and isolate suspected cases, observe infection prevention and control measures, and report suspected infections to public health authorities.

The confirmation followed months of heightened surveillance after Ebola outbreaks were reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.

PREMIUM TIMES reported in May that the federal government had identified 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as facing high or moderate risks of Ebola importation following a risk assessment prompted by the outbreaks.

In September, PREMIUM TIMES also reported that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) had raised the country’s preparedness level and strengthened surveillance measures.

The agency said travellers arriving from countries with active Ebola transmission could be required to complete health declaration forms to support monitoring and follow-up.

Drawing on 2014 experience

Mr Pate said the government had activated containment measures to prevent the virus from spreading into the wider population.

“What is important is that we have found this one case. We are doing contact tracing, and we are putting containment measures to ensure that it doesn’t go into our population,” he said.

He said Nigeria’s previous experience with Ebola was one reason for confidence in the current response.

“We have done it in 2014, and we have good public health institutions,” Mr Pate said.

Nigeria’s 2014 outbreak began after Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, arrived in Lagos in July and was later diagnosed with Ebola.

The country recorded 20 cases, including 19 laboratory-confirmed cases and one probable case, with eight deaths. The Federal Ministry of Health, Lagos State government and international partners activated an Ebola Incident Management Centre on 23 July 2014, three days after Mr Sawyer arrived, to coordinate the response.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Nigeria free of Ebola transmission on 20 October 2014 after the country completed 42 days without a new case.

Odianosen Ehiakhamen, Incident Manager for the National Ebola Disease Response and an assistant director at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), said the agency had identified officials who participated in the 2014 response and are still in the country to serve as focal persons.

“Because Nigeria had experienced this same situation in 2014, it was important for us to identify colleagues who responded and were still in the country because they are actually going to be our focal persons,” Mr Ehiakhamen said on Arise TV’s NewsNight on Tuesday.

Regional outbreak

Nigeria’s case comes amid a continuing Ebola outbreak in the DRC and recent cases in other countries.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the DRC had recorded 9,552 confirmed cases and 4,602 related deaths as of 19 October, based on data available up to 18 October. The outbreak has affected eight provinces.

Kenya had also reported nine confirmed cases, including one death, as of 20 October, following an imported case involving a person who had travelled from the DRC through Uganda.

Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus between May and June. 15 of the cases were imported from the DRC, while five were locally acquired among contacts and health workers linked to the imported cases.

The WHO declared the outbreak in Uganda over after 42 days without a new confirmed case.