Nigeria Tracks 53 People Linked to Ebola Case

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has found 53 people connected to Nigeria's confirmed Ebola case in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Jide Idris, the Director-General of the NCDC, shared this information on Sunday at a media briefing in Abuja. He gave an update on how the country is responding to the outbreak.

Mr Idris mentioned that the contacts include healthcare workers, the confirmed patient's domestic staff, and health personnel who took samples from the patient.

"As of now, we have 53 primary contacts. These comprise 44 people from the health facility where the patient was treated and nine additional contacts," he said.

"Of the nine additional contacts, three are household members of the patient, her driver, chef, and husband. Three others attended to her at Julius Berger Clinic before she got to the other facility, while the remaining three are members of the team who went to collect samples."

He explained that the contacts had been listed and classified by their level of exposure. Public health teams are still monitoring them.

According to him, none of the identified contacts had tested positive for Ebola or developed symptoms at the time of the briefing.

Mr Idris also clarified that the agency had looked into two cases. This included the confirmed case in the FCT and a suspected case in Rivers State, which tested negative for Ebola.

Nigeria confirmed its first case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease on 20 October. A woman who had traveled to Nigeria was diagnosed at a private hospital in Abuja.

The NCDC noted that the confirmed patient tested positive in three samples, while a sample from her husband tested negative.