Nigeria has recorded its first Ebola infection in more than a decade, widening an outbreak that has already spread to several African countries, Bloomberg reported. The Nigerian case was caused by the Bundibugyo strain, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said in a statement on Tuesday, prompting the continent's top public-health agency to call for urgent international assistance.
The agency is mobilizing support for Nigeria while intensifying its response in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, Kaseya said. The outbreak in Congo is already among the deadliest in the country's history, centred on Ituri province in the east, where treatment centres have struggled to keep pace with new infections.
The Associated Press reported on the human toll behind the case counts: when a schoolteacher in eastern Congo learned that five of her family members had been diagnosed with Ebola, she was deeply shaken, fearing the worst from a disease that carries stigma and is seen by some in her community as evil. Two of her relatives, her brother and his wife, died of Ebola in July at a treatment centre in Ituri, the AP reported.
Health officials warn that the spread to Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and a major travel hub, raises the stakes considerably. The Africa CDC's appeal for urgent international assistance reflects concern that the outbreak could accelerate without rapid deployment of vaccines, treatment supplies and contact-tracing teams across multiple countries simultaneously.
The Africa CDC's appeal for urgent international assistance reflects concern that the outbreak could accelerate without the rapid deployment of vaccines, treatment supplies and contact-tracing teams across several countries at once. The spread to Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and a major international travel hub, raises the stakes considerably, and health officials are watching border crossings and airports closely for signs of further transmission.