The key facts
- Africa CDC is convening an emergency virtual meeting of health ministers on October 28 to coordinate the response to the Ebola outbreak.
- In the DR Congo, 9,552 confirmed cases and at least 4,000 deaths have been recorded since May; the outbreak has spread to Kenya and Nigeria.
- Nigeria confirmed a first case in a person who arrived from Uganda and is tracking 44 contacts; Uganda denies that the infection occurred on its territory.
Africa CDC emergency meeting
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have called for urgent measures to contain the growing Ebola outbreak and announced an emergency virtual meeting of national health officials on October 28. The organisation's Director General Jean Kaseya called the meeting an opportunity to 'strengthen our collective response'. According to him, 'Ebola is crossing borders. Our response must outpace its spread, with closer coordination, greater solidarity and decisive political leadership.' In a post on X, he added that 'Africa has the expertise, institutions and capacity to defeat this outbreak. We must act together and act now.'
Spread of the outbreak
The outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the virus was first confirmed in May. According to Africa CDC, 9,552 cases and at least 4,000 deaths have been confirmed — the deadliest outbreak in the Congo. The WHO calls it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history. The disease has spread to four African countries and is active in two of them: besides the Congo, cases have been recorded in Kenya and Nigeria. Uganda states that there are currently no active cases in the country. The WHO urged 'all countries in the region to maintain a high level of readiness while the outbreak in the DR Congo continues to evolve.'
First case in Nigeria
On Tuesday, Nigeria reported its first case of the disease, linked to a person who arrived from Uganda at the beginning of the month. According to Euronews, the patient entered Nigeria on October 5, was initially treated for malaria, but the condition did not improve, which raised suspicions among doctors, said Odianosen Ehiakhamen, deputy director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Deutsche Welle reports that the virus was brought by a woman returning from Uganda. The patient is isolated and receiving medical care. Authorities are tracking 44 contacts, most of whom are healthcare workers, as well as the patient's spouse, a Swiss citizen. Nigeria's Health Minister Muhammad Pate said officials are 'doing everything possible to contain this case.' Laboratory director of the Nigeria Centre Olajumoke Babatunde reported that the Bundibugyo virus was detected in the patient: 'We conducted three levels of testing, but all molecular. The strain is Bundibugyo.'
Dispute over the source of infection
Uganda, which recorded 20 cases in this outbreak and declared itself Ebola-free in July, rejected claims that the first Nigerian patient was infected on its territory. The WHO declared the Ugandan outbreak over on August 27. 'Transit through Uganda does not in itself prove that infection occurred here. The place of possible infection is still being established,' Uganda's Ministry of Health stated on X, insisting that the country has 'not recorded a single confirmed active case of Ebola.'
Features of the virus and risk to Europe
The current outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or specific treatments, although clinical trials are underway in the Congo. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, including blood and vomit, as well as through contaminated objects and surfaces. According to DW, one French doctor who was doing humanitarian work in virus transmission zones in the Congo became infected but recovered after treatment at a specialised facility in France. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) assesses the risk of the virus being imported into Europe as very low: 'Although single imported cases cannot be ruled out, the likelihood of multiple independent imports is extremely low, even in the most pessimistic scenario in which incidence in the affected regions continues to rise,' the centre's website says.
