Deborah Tolu-Kolawole
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has placed Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory and several other states on high Ebola alert following the outbreak of the deadly Bundibugyo strain of Ebola Virus Disease in parts of East and Central Africa.
In a national public health advisory issued to Commissioners for Health across the country, the agency warned that Nigeria faces a high risk of importing the virus due to increasing regional transmission, international travel, porous borders, and population movement.
The advisory, dated May 27, 2026, comes amid growing concerns over the spread of the Bundibugyo variant of Ebola, a rare strain for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
States classified by the NCDC as high-risk include Lagos, the FCT, Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba, and Adamawa because of their international airports, seaports, border routes and high human traffic.
“The immediate objective of our national preparedness and readiness efforts is to ensure that every State and the FCT can reasonably detect, contain, and respond swiftly to any suspected case while protecting health workers and sustaining essential health services,” the NCDC stated.
The agency disclosed that although Nigeria has not recorded any confirmed case, a dynamic risk assessment conducted after the outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern showed that the danger of importation into Nigeria remains high.
According to the NCDC, 1,077 suspected cases and 247 deaths have already been reported in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a fatality rate of 24.6 per cent.
It added that the outbreak has also triggered international concern, with suspected cases reportedly identified in India, while Canada announced temporary restrictions on travel applications involving residents of Uganda, DRC and South Sudan.
Uganda has also reportedly introduced border closure measures to contain the spread.
The NCDC stressed that the Bundibugyo strain differs from the Zaire Ebola strain, which existing vaccines and antibody treatments primarily target.
“The current Bundibugyo virus outbreak has no licensed vaccines or approved targeted therapeutics,” the advisory warned.
Health officials also cautioned that Ebola symptoms could initially resemble malaria, Lassa fever, or other common illnesses, making early detection more difficult.
“Health workers must not wait for bleeding before suspecting Ebola in any patient with compatible symptoms and relevant travel or exposure history,” the agency said.
The NCDC noted that Ebola is not airborne and spreads mainly through direct contact with infected blood, body fluids, contaminated materials, or infected animals.
As part of emergency preparedness measures, the agency said its National Emergency Operations Centre has already been activated in alert mode to coordinate nationwide response efforts.
State governments were directed to immediately activate Ebola preparedness structures, identify isolation centres, intensify surveillance at entry points, equip frontline health workers with personal protective equipment and begin public sensitisation campaigns to counter panic and misinformation.
The agency also asked states to submit readiness reports within 72 hours.
Nigeria’s renewed Ebola alert has revived memories of the country’s successful containment of the virus during the 2014 outbreak, when an infected Liberian-American traveller, Patrick Sawyer, arrived in Lagos and exposed dozens of people before authorities intervened.
At the time, public health experts feared a catastrophic outbreak in Lagos due to its dense population and status as one of Africa’s busiest commercial hubs.
However, rapid contact tracing, aggressive isolation measures, emergency coordination and public awareness campaigns helped Nigeria stop the spread within months.
The World Health Organisation later praised Nigeria’s response as one of the most effective Ebola containment efforts in Africa.
The latest alert is considered particularly serious because the Bundibugyo variant remains less understood than the more common Zaire strain.
Unlike the Zaire strain, which has approved vaccines and treatments developed after previous West African outbreaks, the Bundibugyo strain currently lacks licensed countermeasures.
Public health experts have long warned that Nigeria’s heavy air traffic, extensive land borders, crowded urban centres and overstretched healthcare system leave the country vulnerable during regional disease outbreaks.
The warning also comes as Nigeria continues to battle multiple infectious disease outbreaks, including Lassa fever, cholera, and meningitis in several states, increasing pressure on the healthcare system.
Health authorities are now urging Nigerians to remain calm, avoid rumours and fake cures, maintain proper hygiene and report suspected symptoms early as surveillance and preparedness measures intensify nationwide.
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