ABUJA, 24 October 2026. Nigeria has confirmed its first case of Ebola virus disease in 12 years. Health workers are on the front line again: most of the 44 people traced as close contacts are health workers.
What we know so far
- The patient: a woman who flew into Abuja from Uganda on 3 October. According to reports, she fell ill around 7 October and was admitted to a private hospital in the FCT on 11 October. She was not tested until 19 October.
- Confirmation: the Federal Government confirmed the case on Tuesday, 20 October, after three rounds of molecular testing by the NCDC. The WHO confirmed the strain.
- The strain: Bundibugyo ebolavirus, the same strain driving the outbreak in DR Congo. No approved vaccine or specific treatment exists for this strain. The Ervebo vaccine used in past outbreaks protects against the Zaire strain only.
- Contacts: 44 close contacts have been identified, including health workers, other patients, caregivers and travel contacts. Al Jazeera reports that most of them are health workers.
- Patient status: she is in isolation. Reports say her condition has deteriorated to multi-organ failure.
About 12 days passed between when she fell sick and when she was tested. That gap is why the people who cared for her in a private hospital make up most of the contact list. It is also the clearest lesson for every nurse in Nigeria right now. Think Ebola early, especially in any febrile patient with recent travel.
The bigger outbreak
Nigeria is the fifth country to detect the virus in this outbreak and the first in West Africa. DR Congo has recorded more than 9,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths since mid-May, making it the deadliest outbreak on record there. Kenya has reported nine cases since 6 October and announced its second death on 23 October. Africa CDC says the outbreak is now a continental problem.
What the FCT and NCDC are telling hospitals
On 23 October the FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, working with the NCDC, directed every public and private facility to:
- Set up screening and triage points at the entrance and screen inpatients for symptoms.
- Designate an isolation or holding area for suspected cases, with clear steps for notifying the response team.
- Brief all staff on early symptoms, protection and reporting, including cleaners, laundry and waste-management workers.
- Enforce hand hygiene, injection safety, safe waste disposal and PPE matched to the level of exposure.
- Keep a high index of suspicion for Ebola.
A practical checklist for nurses and midwives
- Ask about travel and contact at triage. Ask about travel to or from DR Congo, Uganda or Kenya, and about contact with a sick person or a funeral, in the last 21 days.
- Know the early signs. They are fever, severe weakness, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhoea. Early Ebola looks like malaria or typhoid. Bleeding is a late sign and often absent.
- Isolate first, then investigate. Move a suspected patient to a single room or the designated holding area, limit staff contact and call the response team before doing more procedures.
- Wear the right PPE, and take it off correctly. Most health-worker infections happen while removing PPE. Use a trained observer or buddy when doffing.
- Avoid unnecessary needles. Every cannulation and blood draw is an exposure risk. Do only what is essential.
- Report your own exposure at once. Report it even if you feel well. The Health Minister said: “Report any possible exposure immediately, even if you feel well.”
- Handle the dead safely. Families should not wash or prepare the body where Ebola is suspected. Trained burial teams will help.
NCDC toll-free line (24 hours): 6232.
We have done this before
In 2014, a single imported case in Lagos led to 20 infections and eight deaths. Several of those infected were health workers, and Dr Ameyo Adadevoh was among those who died. Nigeria contained that outbreak in about three months through fast contact tracing and isolation. The same tools work against Bundibugyo. What protects nurses today is early suspicion, proper PPE and protected staff.
Nursing Media Network will update this story as the NCDC releases new figures. Rely on official NCDC channels and do not share unverified reports.
Sources: Premium Times, Al Jazeera, Leadership, News Agency of Nigeria, AP via News4JAX.