WHO warns Africa faces ‘complex’ Ebola outbreak as virus reaches Nigeria
Deadly strain spreads to West Africa for the first time in the current wave as Abuja isolates contacts of an infected diplomat’s wife
The World Health Organization has warned that Africa faced a “complex” Ebola outbreak after the virus crossed from east Africa to Nigeria, marking the first case in the west of the continent.
Nigeria on Tuesday had announced an imported case of the Bundibugyo strain, currently causing a major Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was detected in the wife of a diplomat who had travelled from Uganda to the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Health minister Muhammad Ali Pate said Thursday the woman’s contacts had been tracked down since her arrival in Nigeria earlier this month, and that an undisclosed number of “high risk” individuals “have been quarantined, fully, in a facility”.
