Nigeria Ebola Patient — a Diplomat — in Multi-Organ Failure as NCDC Traces 44 Contacts

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has identified the Ebola patient in Abuja as a diplomat whose condition has deteriorated into multi-organ failure, raising the stakes in the country's race to contain the virus. The disclosure was made on Wednesday during an emergency incident-management meeting in the federal capital.

Olajumoke Babatunde, the NCDC's director of public health laboratory services, confirmed that laboratory tests identified the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola — the same strain behind the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We did three levels of tests, but all were molecular. The strain was Bundibugyo," she said.

The patient is a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda. She developed symptoms on October 7 and was admitted to a private hospital in the capital on October 11, where she was treated for several days before Ebola was suspected. Officials have not disclosed her nationality.

Health authorities say 44 close contacts — including healthcare workers, fellow patients, caregivers and travel contacts — have been identified and are under active monitoring, with the NCDC's incident management system fully activated. Health Minister Ali Pate said the patient is in isolation and receiving medical care, while urging the public to stay calm. There is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain.

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