Nigeria’s Ministry of Health has found a high degree of genetic similarity between the Ebola virus detected in Nigeria and a case reported in Kenya after conducting genomic analysis of the Bundibugyo strain.
This comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) raised the possibility that the female index patient in Nigeria might have had contact with the Kenyan man at the international airport in Kampala, Uganda.
“Genomic analysis indicates that the virus identified in Nigeria is genetically related to the virus identified in a case in Kenya,” Nigeria’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the Institute of Genomics and Global Health (IGH) at Redeemer’s University in Osun State conducted the genetic analysis of the virus.
Mr Pate said “Nigeria’s recently reported only imported case is highly similar to that from Kenya’s @MOH_Kenya reported first imported case, differing by only one mutation.”
However, Health Minister Ali Pate said further investigations would be conducted to establish an epidemiological link between the cases in Nigeria and Kenya.
Mr Pate commended the two institutions and Christian Happi, the professor who led the testing process.
The WHO, Africa CDC, NCDC and Nigeria’s health ministry are still working to determine where the patient was exposed to the virus.
The WHO and Africa CDC have considered the possibility that the female patient in Nigeria crossed paths with the infected Kenyan patient at an airport in Uganda.
The Kenyan patient developed symptoms after arriving in Nairobi and later died from the disease. He was infected with the Bundibugyo strain, the same variant detected in the Nigerian patient.
Uganda, however, has denied recording any Ebola cases and reaffirmed its Ebola-free status, as certified by the WHO.
“The Ministry of Health wishes to assure the country that Uganda remains Ebola-free,” Uganda’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The WHO declared Uganda Ebola-free in August after the country completed the required 42-day period without a new confirmed case.
However, reports that two passengers tested positive for Ebola after travelling through an airport in Kampala have raised questions about Uganda’s Ebola-free status.
Switzerland’s foreign ministry has confirmed that the Ebola patient in Nigeria is married to a diplomatworking at its embassy in Abuja.
Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC, also confirmed that the female patient was born in Uganda.
The NCDC has placed 46 people, including the patient’s husband and domestic staff, in isolation.
Nigeria’s aviation minister, Festus Keyamo, has placed all 46 people in isolation on a no-fly list for three weeks.
