KEY POINTS
- NCDC placed Lagos, the FCT and eight other states on high Ebola alert.
- Uganda and DRC report 1,077 suspected cases and 247 deaths.
- No licensed vaccine or therapy targets the Bundibugyo strain.
Nigeria’s disease control agency has put Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory and eight other states on high Ebola alert, after the Bundibugyo strain of the virus broke out in parts of East and Central Africa. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention issued the warning on May 27. Moreover, it said there is still no confirmed case at home.
Why the Ebola alert was issued
The NCDC said Nigeria faces a high risk of imported infection because of growing transmission in the region, international travel, porous borders and population movement. Specifically, the agency named Lagos, the FCT, Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba and Adamawa as the highest-risk locations, citing their airports, seaports and busy border crossings.
The numbers across the region are sobering. According to the NCDC, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have reported 1,077 suspected cases and 247 deaths, a fatality rate of 24.6 percent. Additionally, suspected cases have surfaced in India, while Canada has tightened travel rules from Uganda, the DRC and South Sudan, and Uganda has moved to shut its borders.
No vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain
This outbreak is harder to fight than past ones. Specifically, the Bundibugyo strain is rare, and no licensed vaccine or approved therapy targets it. By contrast, the more familiar Zaire strain has both. Bundibugyo was first identified in Uganda in 2007 and has caused smaller outbreaks since, though it can still kill a quarter or more of those infected. Therefore, the NCDC warned that early diagnosis matters, since Ebola can mimic malaria or Lassa fever in its first days.
“Health workers must not wait for bleeding before suspecting Ebola in any patient with compatible symptoms,” the agency said. Meanwhile, it has activated its National Emergency Operations Centre in alert mode to coordinate the Ebola alert response.
What states must do
The NCDC told state governments to act fast. Specifically, it asked them to set up isolation centers, ramp up surveillance at entry points, equip frontline workers with protective gear, and run public awareness drives to counter panic and misinformation.
Lagos says it is ready. Health Commissioner Akin Abayomi said the state has no confirmed or suspected case and is monitoring developments under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s directive. Indeed, Abayomi said Lagos built its biosecurity system after the 2014 Ebola outbreak and strengthened it during COVID-19. The 2014 episode began when a Liberian-American traveler, Patrick Sawyer, brought the virus to Lagos, but contact tracing and isolation stopped it within months and earned Nigeria praise from the WHO.
The NCDC urged Nigerians to stay calm, ignore false cures and report symptoms early. Together, those steps, the agency said, give the country its best shot at keeping a borderless threat outside its borders.
