Nigeria ends Ebola contact monitoring with none of 62 people falling ill

Nigeria has completed 21 days of monitoring for all 62 contacts linked to its Ebola case, and none of them fell ill, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said on Friday, 13 November, according to Reuters.

How the case reached Nigeria

Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade in October. The patient, a Swiss woman, had travelled to Uganda and then returned to Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory around Abuja. She was infected with the Bundibugyo strain of the virus. She and her husband were evacuated to Switzerland, where she has fully recovered and left hospital.

Symptoms, but no virus

NCDC Director-General Jide Idris told reporters the last contact was discharged from monitoring on Friday. During the monitoring period, 13 people reported a fever or other non-specific symptoms, but all tested negative for the virus.

Seven suspected cases reported in five Nigerian states over the past three weeks were also investigated, and all tested negative.

Not over yet

The NCDC stressed that completing contact monitoring does not mean the outbreak is over. Under World Health Organization (WHO) rules, a country must complete a full 42-day countdown from the recovery or departure of the last confirmed patient before the WHO can officially declare an outbreak over. Idris added that the risk of Ebola being brought into the country by international travellers remains.