Nigeria confirms first Ebola case; patient arrived from Uganda
Health ministry says the woman is isolated; 44 contacts identified and facilities urged to show "the highest level of vigilance".
On 21 October 2026 Nigeria reported its first confirmed Ebola infection, authorities said, after a woman who recently traveled from Uganda tested positive for the virus. She is receiving care in isolation at a hospital in the capital, Abuja.
Laboratory analysis identified the virus as the Bundibugyo strain. The Ministry of Health said the patient had been treated for several days at a private medical facility near Abuja before the positive result was returned.
Contact tracing under way
Investigators have begun tracing people who may have been exposed. So far 44 contacts have been listed, including health workers, other patients, caregivers and travel companions, the ministry reported.
The government urged all public and private health institutions across the country — home to about 220 million people — to adopt "the highest level of vigilance."
The current outbreak first emerged in mid-May in the Democratic Republic of Congo. To date authorities in DRC have recorded 9,552 infections and 4,602 deaths connected to this epidemic.
Other affected countries in Africa include Kenya, with eight confirmed cases and one death, and Uganda, which has reported 20 confirmed cases linked to a cross-border patient from Congo and two deaths. Uganda had declared the outbreak over at the end of August after 42 days without new cases. In May an American doctor who had been infected in DRC was later treated and recovered at the Charité university hospital in Berlin.
Photo: press material from the event
