The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has announced that while no case of Ebola has been confirmed in the country, it is strengthening surveillance efforts following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has killed 88 people.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. The outbreak began in eastern DRC’s Ituri province, with around 246 suspected cases. It involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has no approved vaccine or treatment.<\/p>\n
Cases have now spread beyond DRC. One confirmed case reached Kinshasa, the capital, believed to be in a patient returning from Ituri. Two confirmed cases have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda, where a 59-year-old man died after testing positive.<\/p>\n
The WHO has advised countries not to close borders or restrict trade. It stopped short of declaring a pandemic, saying the situation does not meet the criteria.<\/p>\n
In a statement, NCDC Director General Jide Idris said the agency is ramping up laboratory readiness, infection prevention, and public awareness efforts across Nigeria. He noted that the centre is working with the Port Health Services and other stakeholders to strengthen preparedness.<\/p>\n
“We are closely monitoring the situation and working with relevant stakeholders to ensure continued vigilance and preparedness within the public health system,” Idris said.<\/p>\n
Ebola is a severe viral illness spread through direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or contaminated materials of infected persons or animals. Its incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days. Early symptoms include fever, muscle pain, fatigue, headache, and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash, and in severe cases, bleeding.<\/p>\n
Healthcare workers have been advised to maintain a high index of suspicion for Ebola, especially in patients with relevant travel history or exposure. They are urged to follow strict infection prevention measures, including early identification and isolation of suspected cases, proper use of protective equipment, and prompt reporting.<\/p>\n
The NCDC advised Nigerians to remain calm, practise good hand hygiene, avoid misinformation, and report unusual illnesses quickly.<\/p>\n
Nigeria gained international recognition in 2014 for successfully containing an Ebola outbreak after an infected traveller arrived in Lagos from Liberia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has announced that while no case of Ebola has been confirmed in the country, it is strengthening surveillance efforts following an outbreak in the Democratic...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11316,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11314\/revisions\/11316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}