Nigeria’s public health authorities have placed Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory and eight other states on high Ebola preparedness alert following the spread of the deadly Bundibugyo strain of Ebola Virus Disease across parts of East and Central Africa.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), in a nationwide advisory issued to state Commissioners for Health, warned that the country faces a “high risk” of importing the virus due to increasing regional transmission, international travel, porous land borders and heavy cross-border movement.
States classified as high-risk include Lagos, the FCT, Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba and Adamawa because of their airports, seaports, trade routes and border activities.
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The alert follows the declaration of the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation amid growing cases in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the NCDC, more than 1,000 suspected cases and over 240 deaths linked to the outbreak have already been recorded in the affected countries, with a fatality rate estimated at 24.6 per cent.
“The overall risk of importation of the disease into Nigeria has been assessed as HIGH due to increasing ongoing regional transmission, international travel, regional population movement, major airports, seaports, porous land borders, informal crossings and trade routes,” the agency stated.
Health officials disclosed that the current outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a less common variant that currently has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment.
The agency warned that existing Ebola vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies were primarily developed for the Zaire strain and may not provide protection against the present outbreak.
Authorities said the absence of vaccines makes rapid detection, isolation and contact tracing the country’s most critical defence against any possible outbreak.
The NCDC has already activated its National Emergency Operations Centre in alert mode to coordinate preparedness efforts nationwide.
State governments were directed to immediately strengthen surveillance systems, prepare isolation centres, increase infection prevention measures, equip frontline health workers with protective equipment and intensify public sensitisation campaigns.
The agency also ordered states to submit readiness reports within 72 hours.
Health workers across the country were advised to maintain a high level of suspicion, especially because Ebola symptoms often resemble malaria, Lassa fever and other common illnesses in the early stages.
“Health workers must not wait for bleeding before suspecting Ebola in any patient with compatible symptoms and relevant travel or exposure history,” the advisory warned.
The disease spreads through direct contact with infected blood, body fluids, contaminated surfaces or infected animals, although officials stressed that Ebola is not airborne.
Public health concerns have also intensified after reports that suspected cases linked to the outbreak were identified outside Africa, including in India, while Canada reportedly imposed temporary travel restrictions involving residents from Uganda, DR Congo and South Sudan.
Nigeria’s latest Ebola alert has revived memories of the country’s successful containment of the virus during the 2014 outbreak after infected Liberian-American traveller Patrick Sawyer arrived in Lagos.
At the time, authorities feared a major public health disaster because of Lagos’ dense population and status as one of Africa’s busiest commercial centres.
However, rapid contact tracing, aggressive isolation measures and emergency coordination helped Nigeria contain the outbreak within months, a response later praised globally by the WHO.
The latest warning comes as Nigeria is also battling outbreaks of Lassa fever, cholera and meningitis in several states, adding pressure to an already stretched healthcare system.
Public health experts say Nigeria’s heavy air traffic, porous borders and crowded urban centres continue to leave the country vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks originating from neighbouring regions.
