Nigeria has ruled out Ebola infection in two suspected cases in the country’s northeast after laboratory samples returned negative results in two rounds of testing, health authorities announced on Sunday.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said the individuals, identified in Adamawa State, had been placed in isolation while health officials conducted laboratory investigations and traced potential contacts.
The negative results mean no Ebola infections have been confirmed in Adamawa, easing concerns about further transmission as Nigeria remains on alert over the disease’s spread across parts of Africa. Voice of Nigeria+1
Nigeria recorded its first confirmed Ebola infection in more than a decade on October 20, when a Swiss woman who had travelled through Uganda tested positive after arriving in the capital, Abuja.
The woman and her husband were evacuated to Switzerland on October 26. Her infection remains the only confirmed Ebola case reported in Nigeria during the current outbreak.
The latest findings come as African health authorities intensify surveillance amid a major Ebola outbreak centred in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
More than 5,000 people have died in Congo since the outbreak was declared in May, while infections have also been reported in Kenya and Uganda.
The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus, for which no approved vaccines or specific treatments are currently available.
Health authorities across the region have strengthened screening, contact tracing and disease surveillance in an effort to prevent further transmission. ncdc.gov.ng+1
