Nigeria has recorded no secondary Ebola infection following the completion of a 21-day surveillance period for all 62 contacts linked to an imported case of the disease, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has announced.
The development marks a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to contain the infection after confirming its first Ebola case in more than a decade on October 21.
The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed the outcome on Friday, November 13, confirming that none of the identified contacts developed the disease throughout the monitoring period.
According to the agency, the last contact completed monitoring on Friday without testing positive for the virus.
The imported case involved a Swiss woman who had travelled to Uganda before returning to Nigeria. She and her husband were subsequently evacuated to Switzerland, where the woman recovered fully and was discharged from hospital.
The NCDC disclosed that 13 of the 62 contacts reported fever or other non-specific symptoms during the surveillance period.
However, laboratory tests conducted on all 13 individuals returned negative results.
The agency also investigated seven separate Ebola alerts reported across five states within the three-week period, with all the suspected cases testing negative.
Despite the successful completion of contact monitoring, the disease control agency cautioned against interpreting the development as an automatic declaration that the Ebola outbreak had ended.
It said continued vigilance, surveillance and adherence to public health guidelines remained necessary to prevent any possible resurgence.
The NCDC’s announcement is expected to provide reassurance following concerns generated by the imported case and the subsequent identification of individuals who had contact with the infected traveller.
