Nigeria's suspected Ebola cases in Adamawa test negative, NCDC says

Two people suspected of having Ebola in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State in north-east Nigeria, have tested negative, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) says.

The agency received a report of two people with symptoms suggestive of Ebola in the early hours of October 30. Both were isolated while samples were tested. The results were negative after two rounds of laboratory testing.

"There is currently no laboratory-confirmed case of Ebola in Adamawa State," said the NCDC's director general, Dr Jide Idris.

Nigeria's one confirmed case

Nigeria has recorded one confirmed case linked to the outbreak in Central Africa: an imported case in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, announced in October. The NCDC described the patient as a 42-year-old woman who had travelled from Uganda.

On October 26, she and a close contact were medically evacuated to Switzerland for treatment, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Health officials have been monitoring dozens of her contacts in Nigeria; recent reports put the number at 62.

A separate suspected case reported in Rivers State on October 23 also tested negative.

The wider outbreak

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, is centred in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 5,000 people have died. Nigeria is the fifth country to detect a case linked to it, according to the World Health Organization. There is no approved vaccine for this strain, though a trial is under way.

Nigeria's experience

Nigeria has faced Ebola before. In 2014, an infected traveller arrived in Lagos, and 20 people were infected in total, eight of whom died. Nigeria's rapid contact tracing, isolation and public communication contained the outbreak within three months, and the WHO hailed it as a success story.

Health officials say the same approach is being used now. The NCDC urges anyone with symptoms such as sudden fever, weakness, vomiting or unexplained bleeding, particularly after travel to affected areas, to seek medical care promptly and avoid self-medication.