Nigeria’s first Ebola case matches DR Congo strain, health officials say

Bundibugyo strain has now affected four African nations, and become the DR Congo’s deadliest in recorded history.Nigerian health officials say test results have confirmed the country’s first case of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind a major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), marking the disease’s first spread to West Africa in the current outbreak.The case involves a woman who travelled from Uganda to the capital, Abuja, on October 3, the Nigeria-centre-for-disease-control-and-prevention" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="220973" data-entity-type="organization">Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3DR Congo Ebola cases pass 9,000 as efforts to curb transmission falterlist 2 of 3Kenya’s Ebola cases test preparedness beyond Nairobilist 3 of 3Nigeria confirms first Ebola case amid concerns about continental spreadend of listShe was tested for Ebola on October 19 after health officials learned she had recently travelled to Uganda, one of the countries affected by the current outbreak. Officials confirmed the positive result on Tuesday.“We did three levels of tests, but all molecular. The strain was Bundibugyo,” Olajumoke Babatunde, director of the public health laboratory service at the NCDC, said on Wednesday.The World Health Organization (WHO) also confirmed the strain, for which there is neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment.‘Multi-organ failure’An unnamed official told the AFP news agency that the woman is a diplomat whose condition has deteriorated into “multi-organ failure”.Ayoade Alakija, a Nigerian physician who co-chairs a G7 committee for investment in global health, said that it had taken 12 days since the woman fell sick for her to be tested for Ebola, potentially exposing many other people to the infection.Nigerian authorities have identified 44 contacts, most of them healthcare workers. They include the patient’s husband, a Swiss national, who lives with her in Abuja.