Ebola scientists to probe Nigeria case origin, Africa CDC says

Ebola scientists to probe Nigeria case origin, Africa CDC says left The Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak in Congo has now caused almost 10,000 cases ‌and more than 4,600 deaths in Congo, and spread to three other countries in Africa – Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda |Image used for representational purpose only REUTERS REUTERS https://th-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/jeo8i3/article71631578.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/2026-10-26T115148Z_1978611443_RC2G4OA5ET31_RTRMADP_3_HEALTH-USA-REGENERON-EBOLA.

JPG Gradel Muyisa Mumbere FILE PHOTO: Health workers and humanitarian responders on the front lines of the Ebola response gather to receive a vaccination due to their potential exposure to the virus as part of their work with suspected cases, including contacts, as aid agencies intensify efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain, in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 16, 2026.

REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/File Photo Team to investigate possible link between Nigeria and Kenya Ebola cases as outbreak spreads to fourth African country, with nearly 10,000 cases and more than 4,600 deaths reported in Congo LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - A team of ‌leading Ebola scientists will travel to Nigeria to help investigate how the country’s ​first patient in more than a decade got infected, Africa CDC Director-General ⁠Jean Kaseya said.

Their task will involve trying to work out how the female patient, the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, caught the Bundibugyo species of Ebola.

Her travel documents show ‌she had not visited the outbreak epicentre in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kaseya said in an interview with Reuters in London.

Finding out how she became ‌ill matters to ensure that the deadly Bundibugyo outbreak, already the second-largest Ebola epidemic on ‌record, ⁠is not spreading silently in as-yet undiscovered locations, and to help trace ⁠and isolate all contacts.

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On Friday, genomic sequencing showed that the viruses that infected the two patients were closely related.

The patient in Nigeria had been on holiday in Uganda and travelled ‌through Entebbe Airport on October 3.

The patient in Kenya, who has since ​died, was likely in the airport at the same time, as their flights were around 40 minutes apart, although they did not depart from the ⁠same gate and it is not clear whether they had any contact, Kaseya said.

Kaseya said while genomic sequencing had shown that the viruses were similar, it did not mean that ‌one of the patients had directly infected the other and the patient in Abuja, whose condition is improving, has said she does not remember meeting the Kenya patient.

However, he said they were not excluding any options, including that there may have been indirect contact through another person, for example.

Ebola spreads through close contact with the infected bodily fluids of a person with symptoms, according to the World Health Organization.

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Kaseya ⁠said the team, which will be led by the co-discoverer of Ebola, Congolese expert Jean-Jacques ⁠Muyembe, would also look at more sequencing data to work out where the Kenyan patient was infected.

The Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak in Congo has now caused almost 10,000 cases ‌and more than 4,600 deaths in Congo, and spread to three other countries in Africa – Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.

The disease can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in ​severe cases, internal and external bleeding.

There is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for Ebola Bundibugyo. (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Toby Chopra)