ABUJA, Nigeria- Nigeria has confirmed an Ebola case in a woman who travelled from Uganda and was admitted to a private hospital in Abuja, Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said on Tuesday.
The woman developed symptoms on October 7 and was admitted to hospital four days later.
She is now in isolation and receiving medical care, Pate said. Laboratory tests confirmed the infection.
Authorities have identified 44 people who may have been in contact with her and are tracing them.
The government has not announced any other confirmed cases in Nigeria.
Reuters reported that Uganda’s government spokesperson Alan Kasujja said there was no Ebola in Uganda.
The country reported cases earlier this year and was declared free of the virus by the World Health Organization in August.
Officials have not said where the woman contracted the infection.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention had stepped up surveillance and preparedness after Ebola cases were reported in Kenya.
Its response measures include testing, contact tracing, isolation and protection for health workers, the Associated Press reported.
The case comes amid a regional outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
Kenya has confirmed nine cases, all linked to one cluster, while an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread across borders, according to Reuters.
Nigeria contained an Ebola outbreak in 2014, when it recorded 20 cases, the Associated Press reported.
Pate said the country had the experience and public health systems to respond to the new case.
