Nigeria Probes Two More Suspected Ebola Cases in Northeast as Patients Are Isolated

Two more suspected Ebola cases have been identified in Nigeria's northeast region, after the country declared its first case in more than a decade on October 20.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said in a statement posted on X on Saturday: 'Two suspected cases of Ebola disease have been identified in Nigeria's northeast region.'

Both individuals have been isolated, contact identification and listing is ongoing, and laboratory testing is being conducted, the statement said.

The NCDC added: 'Being classified as suspected cases does not mean they are confirmed Ebola cases; confirmation is subject to laboratory results.'

Nigeria declared its first Ebola case in more than a decade on October 20. Last week, the country became the fifth to be affected by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola after an imported case was reported.

In that case, a Swiss woman who had travelled to Nigeria from Uganda tested positive for the virus. She and her husband, a Swiss diplomat, were evacuated to Switzerland on Monday.

The current outbreak emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in May. The Bundibugyo strain has killed more than 5,000 people in the DRC since then.

It is the largest outbreak in the DRC's history, affecting eight of the country's 26 provinces, with more than 10,300 confirmed cases reported.

There is currently no approved treatment or vaccine for this strain of Ebola, but vaccine trials are under way.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Friday called for stronger measures to protect front-line workers, after two young Congolese doctors died from Ebola earlier this week in the DRC's North Kivu and Ituri provinces.

According to health authorities, persistent weaknesses in early detection and contact tracing are among the main obstacles to stopping the current transmission in the DRC. Only about 12 percent of confirmed cases there have been identified among previously known contacts, with many deaths occurring in communities.

Since May, Bundibugyo cases have been reported in the DRC, Uganda, France, Kenya and, most recently, Nigeria.