The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has disclosed that the index patient in the country’s Ebola outbreak remains positive and hospitalised in Switzerland, while 62 contacts are being monitored.
The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this through the agency’s Director of Public Health, Dr Odianosan Ehiakhamen, during a Nigerian Institute of Medical Research webinar titled “Safeguarding Nigeria Together: The NIMR Ebola Webinar.”
Ehiakhamen said the patient’s viral load appeared to be declining, as indicated by rising cycle threshold (Ct) values, although the test results remained positive. He added that the patient’s spouse had tested negative and was being accommodated separately.
He said six contacts had been discharged from quarantine, while the agency was targeting December 7 for a possible declaration of the end of the outbreak, provided no new cases emerged and all monitoring requirements were met.
The NCDC official acknowledged delays in identifying the infection, noting that the patient had initially been treated for malaria and other febrile illnesses.
He identified early detection, healthcare workers’ awareness, the availability of isolation facilities and coordination between federal and state authorities as areas requiring improvement.
Ehiakhamen urged state governments to strengthen disease surveillance, appoint incident managers and ensure that facilities and resources were available for quarantine and contact tracing.
He also noted that there were no established vaccines or specific antiviral treatments for the Bundibugyo strain, making early detection and containment critical.
Meanwhile, a Professor of Community Medicine at the Lagos State University College of Medicine and Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Lolade Wright, warned that Nigeria risked further transmission without dedicated funding for infection prevention and control (IPC).
Wright called for dedicated IPC budget lines at the federal and state levels, rather than continued reliance on emergency funding during outbreaks.
She also advocated a One Health approach involving the health, environment and agriculture sectors, alongside public education to address misinformation and stigma against survivors.
For Lagos, she recommended stronger triage systems, improved laboratory capacity and regular training for healthcare workers.
At the national level, she called for clear reporting procedures in public and private hospitals, as well as effective monitoring of exposed contacts and travellers for 21 days.
Similarly, the Head of the Infectious Diseases and Clinical Immunology Unit at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr Iorhen Ekase, identified early detection, prompt isolation and aggressive supportive care as critical to improving survival rates among Ebola patients.
Ekase warned against waiting for bleeding to occur before suspecting Ebola, noting that dehydration, disruption of the immune system and multiple organ failure accounted for most deaths.
He urged healthcare workers to distinguish early Ebola symptoms from malaria through careful assessment of patients’ travel and exposure histories.
The specialist stressed that prompt rehydration and treatment of complications could improve patients’ chances of survival.
Also speaking, an epidemiologist with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Ismail Abdulsalam, warned that delays in reporting suspected Ebola cases could undermine containment efforts.
He urged healthcare facilities to promptly activate surveillance and contact-tracing mechanisms whenever an infection was suspected.
Abdulsalam advocated strict adherence to the 7-1-7 framework, which requires detecting outbreaks within seven days of symptom onset, notifying public health authorities within 24 hours of detection and initiating early response actions within seven days.
According to him, effective Ebola containment depends on how quickly the health system detects, reports and responds to suspected infections.
He called for stronger community surveillance, prompt reporting and coordinated action across all levels of government to contain potential outbreaks.
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