As Death Toll Rises to 247 in DRC, Uganda

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has identified Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba, and Adamawa as states at high risk of Ebola importation due to the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.

The agency attributed the risk to increasing international travel, regional population movement, porous borders, and uncertainty surrounding the full magnitude of the outbreak.

The NCDC also classified Ogun, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Plateau, Kogi, Niger, Jigawa, Katsina, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Abia, and Bayelsa as states facing moderate risk.

According to the agency, the high-risk states are major trade and travel routes with international airports, seaports, porous borders, and ground crossings.

It stressed that while all states and the FCT must maintain Ebola preparedness, the pace and level of readiness should reflect each state’s risk of importation and transmission.

Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Jide Idris, disclosed this in a public health advisory issued on Thursday in Abuja.
He noted that a total of 1,077 suspected cases and 247 deaths had been reported in the DRC and Uganda, with a case fatality rate as high as 24.6 percent.

According to him, the most affected age group is between 14 and 45 years, while both regional and national risks remain high.

Idris further stated that suspected cases had also been reported in India, while Canada recently announced a temporary suspension of travel applications from residents of the DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan due to the outbreak.
He added that Uganda had also announced border closure measures.

The NCDC boss noted that there are currently no approved vaccines or specific treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease, stressing that control efforts largely depend on rapid public health interventions.

“The current Bundibugyo virus outbreak has no licensed vaccines or approved targeted therapeutics. Existing Ebola vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments are primarily directed against the Zaire ebolavirus and should therefore not be relied upon as available countermeasures for this outbreak strain,” he said.

Idris emphasised that Nigeria had not recorded any confirmed case of the outbreak at the time of the advisory.

However, he said the Dynamic Risk Assessment conducted by the NCDC and its partners indicated that the overall risk of Ebola importation into Nigeria remains high due to ongoing regional transmission, international travel, regional population movement, major airports, seaports, porous land borders, informal crossings, trade routes, and the similarity between early Ebola symptoms and common febrile illnesses such as malaria and Lassa fever.

He explained that the objective of the national preparedness and response efforts is to ensure that every state and the FCT can quickly detect, contain, and respond to any suspected case while protecting health workers and sustaining essential health services.

According to him, key outbreak response measures include early detection, prompt isolation of suspected and confirmed cases, strict infection prevention and control measures, contact tracing, safe burial practices, community engagement, and strong surveillance systems.

Idris also noted that the absence of strain-specific vaccines and approved therapeutics for the Bundibugyo virus makes early and aggressive supportive care especially important.

He highlighted the need for clinical monitoring, treatment of malaria or bacterial co-infections where necessary, management of shock, symptom control, and humane care in designated isolation and treatment centres.

The NCDC Director-General disclosed that the agency had activated its National Emergency Operations Centre in alert mode to coordinate preparedness efforts with relevant federal and state institutions.

He urged state governments, through their commissioners for health, to ensure immediate operational readiness across both public and private health facilities.

According to him, commissioners are expected to activate state public health coordination structures for Ebola preparedness, conduct rapid risk assessments with focus on points of entry and high-density settings, and engage healthcare providers to ensure early detection and immediate reporting of suspected cases through approved public health channels.

He further directed states to identify at least one functional isolation or holding facility for suspected cases and establish clear referral pathways for safe transfer and management.

Idris also urged commissioners to strengthen health facility readiness for screening, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, infection prevention and control, safe sample transportation, ambulance transfer, decontamination, and waste management.

He added that frontline health workers must be adequately trained, protected with appropriate PPE, and provided with supervision, exposure management procedures, and psychosocial support.

The NCDC boss also called for intensified traveller monitoring and surveillance in states with airports, seaports, land borders, transport hubs, mi