Health authorities probe two suspected Ebola cases in northeast Nigeria

Nigeria has identified two suspected Ebola cases in the northeast, after the country declared its first case in more than a decade on October 20.

Nigerian health authorities are investigating, and the two individuals have been isolated while contact tracing and laboratory testing get under way.

“Two suspected cases of Ebola disease have been identified in Nigeria’s northeast region,” the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement posted on X on Saturday.

“Both individuals have been isolated, contact identification and listing is ongoing, and laboratory testing is being conducted.

“Being classified as suspected cases does not mean they are confirmed Ebola cases; confirmation is subject to laboratory results,” it added.

Last week, Nigeria became the fifth country to be affected by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola after an imported case was reported.

A Swiss woman who had travelled to Nigeria from Uganda tested positive for the virus. She and her husband, a Swiss diplomat, were evacuated to Switzerland on Monday.

The current outbreak emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in May.

The Bundibugyo strain has killed more than 5,000 people in the DRC since then.

The outbreak is the largest in the DRC’s history, affecting eight of the country’s 26 provinces and with more than 10,300 confirmed cases reported.

There is currently no approved treatment or vaccine for this strain of Ebola, but vaccine trials are under way.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Friday called for stronger measures to protect front-line workers after two young Congolese doctors died from Ebola earlier this week in DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

Persistent weaknesses in early detection and contact tracing are among the main obstacles to stopping the current Ebola transmission in the DRC, according to health authorities.

Only about 12 percent of confirmed cases in the DRC have been identified among previously known contacts, with many deaths occurring in communities, authorities said.

Since May, Bundibugyo cases have been reported in the DRC, Uganda, France, Kenya and most recently, Nigeria.