Nigeria’s Ebola index case flown overseas, CDC team investigates how patient got infected

The woman diagnosed with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the FCT has reportedly been evacuated in an air ambulance for treatment abroad.

According to a report by ARISE News, the 42-year-old Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat was flown out from the private jet wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, early in the morning.

“The index patient diagnosed with Ebola virus in Nigeria has been evacuated from the country early this morning through an air ambulance at the private jet wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,” the station said in a post on its X handle.

It added: “ARISE News also obtained video footage showing the medical evacuation aircraft and its crew involved in transporting the passenger, whose suspected status as the Ebola index patient prompted heightened attention to the operation.

Meanwhile, a team of leading Ebola scientists is expected in Nigeria to help investigate how the country’s first patient in more than ‌a decade got infected.

The director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Jean Kaseya said their task will involve trying to work out how the female patient caught the Bundibugyo species of Ebola.

Her travel documents show she had not visited the outbreak epicentre in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kaseya said in an interview with Reuters in London.

“We have so many unknowns,” said Kaseya. “I’m bringing a ​group of scientists in Abuja because… we need to be led by science.”

One of the theories the scientists will investigate is a ​potential link between the patient in Nigeria and the first case in Kenya, reported earlier this month in a man who had travelled from Congo.

On Friday, genomic sequencing showed that the viruses that infected the two patients were closely related.

The patient in Nigeria had been on holiday in Uganda and ​travelled through Entebbe Airport on October 3. The patient in Kenya, who has since died, was likely in the airport at ​the same time, as their flights were around 40 minutes apart, although they did not depart from the same gate and it is not ‌clear ⁠whether they had any contact, Kaseya said.

Kaseya said while genomic sequencing had shown that the viruses were similar, it did not mean that one of the patients had directly infected the other and the patient in Abuja, whose condition is improving, has said she does not remember meeting the Kenya patient.

However, he said they were not excluding any options, including that there may have been indirect ​contact through another person, for ​example. Ebola spreads through close ⁠contact with the infected bodily fluids of a person with symptoms, according to the World Health Organisation.

Kaseya said all countries involved were now willing to collaborate in the investigation, after what ​he described as tension last week when Uganda’s government insisted the patient in Abuja had been to ​Congo, while Nigerian ⁠authorities suggested she had not and was infected in Uganda, which has been Ebola-free since August.

Kaseya said the team, which will be led by the co-discoverer of Ebola, Congolese expert Jean-Jacques Muyembe, would also look at more sequencing data to work out where the Kenyan ⁠patient was ​infected.

The Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak in Congo has now caused almost 10,000 cases and more than 4,600 deaths in Congo, and spread to three other countries in Africa – Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.

The disease can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe ​cases, internal and external bleeding. There is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for Ebola Bundibugyo.

NCDC identifies 53 contacts linked to confirmed case

Meanwhile the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said it identified 53 contacts linked to Nigeria’s confirmed case of the disease in the FCT.

The director-general of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed during a media briefing in Sunday in Abuja that the contacts include healthcare workers, the confirmed patient’s domestic staff and spouse, as well as health personnel involved in collecting samples from the patient.

“As of now, we have 53 primary contacts. These comprise 44 people from the health facility where the patient was treated and nine additional contacts.

“Of the nine additional contacts, three are household members of the patient, her driver, chef and husband. Three others attended to her at Julius Berger Clinic before she got to the other facility, while the remaining three are members of the team who went to collect samples,” Idris said.

Premium Times quoted the director general as saying that the contacts had been listed and categorised according to their level of exposure, with public health teams continuing to monitor them.

According to him, none of the identified contacts had tested positive for Ebola or developed symptoms as of the time of the briefing.

The director general also clarified that the agency had investigated two cases, including the confirmed case in the FCT and a suspected case in Rivers State, which tested negative for Ebola.

He disclosed that the confirmed patient had returned positive results from three samples collected for testing, while her husband tested negative for the disease.

He further said contact tracing was ongoing, with public health teams working to identify people who may have been exposed to the confirmed patient and assess their level of risk.

He said identified contacts would be monitored for 21 days after their last possible exposure, in line with Ebola’s incubation period.

He explained that the number of contacts could change as investigations progressed and more information became available.

He said that being identified as a contact does not mean a person has Ebola, but allows health authorities to monitor their health and detect possible infections early.

The NCDC chief urged Nigerians contacted by public health officials to cooperate with monitoring teams and provide accurate information about their movements, contacts and any symptoms they might experience.