Nigeria's first confirmed case of Ebola since the outbreak in East Africa began in May is the wife of a diplomat who travelled to Uganda's capital for a holiday, the head of Africa's health agency has told the BBC. The woman is originally from Uganda but based in Abuja, where she fell ill three days after arriving home in the Nigerian capital on 3 October, according to Dr Jean Kaseya from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Nigeria's health minister has confirmed to the BBC the 42-year-old patient spent two and a half weeks in Kampala, adding that she also made a two-hour stopover in Ethiopia's capital on her return.
"She's stable, she's improving," Muhammad Ali Pate said. The authorities were working to prevent the virus from spreading and had identified 44 people who had been in contact with the woman, who tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday, the minister said. "Not all of them have been in close proximity.
We cast the net wide so that we contain it as broadly as possible," Pate told the BBC. Is Ebola under control in Kenya after nine cases confirmed? What is Ebola and why is stopping the latest outbreak so difficult?
None of the contacts, who are now in isolation, are known to have developed symptoms, including the person the patient travelled with, the health minister said, adding that the woman had not travelled outside Abuja since landing. Kaseya explained that the woman had first developed symptoms on 6 October when she had sought medical help. "She went to the first hospital, a private hospital, thinking that she had malaria, and then she went to the second private hospital.
She was admitted on the 11th," he told the BBC's Newshour programme. Malaria is endemic in Nigeria and its symptoms - a high temperature, headaches, muscle aches, vomiting and or diarrhoea - are similar to those of Ebola. After her condition failed to improve, public health authorities were alerted on Monday 19 October, Pate said.
Her diagnosis was confirmed the next day following three laboratory tests, he said. The incubation period for Ebola ranges from two to 21 days, meaning those exposed to the virus may not become ill for several weeks. Ebola is a rare but deadly disease, external caused by a virus.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
