The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has released a list of States considered as high risk of Ebola importation due to the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
The agency classified Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Rivers, Kano, Enugu, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Taraba, and Adamawa as high-risk states.
The agency attributed the risk to increased international travel, regional population movements, porous borders, and uncertainty about the full magnitude of the outbreak.
The NCDC also classified Ogun, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Plateau, Kogi, Niger, Jigawa, Katsina, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Abia, and Bayelsa as states facing moderate risk.
According to the NCDC, the high-risk states are major trade and travel routes with international airports, seaports, porous borders, and ground crossings.
It stressed that while all states and the FCT must maintain Ebola preparedness, the pace and level of readiness should reflect each state’s risk of importation and transmission.
Director-General of the NCDC, Jide Idris, disclosed this in a public health advisory issued on Thursday in Abuja.
He noted that a total of 1,077 suspected cases and 247 deaths had been reported in the DRC and Uganda, with a case fatality rate as high as 24.6 per cent.
According to him, the most affected age group is between 14 and 45 years, while both regional and national risks remain high.
Idris further stated that suspected cases had also been reported in India, while Canada recently announced a temporary suspension of travel applications from residents of the DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan due to the outbreak.
He added that Uganda had also announced border closure measures.
The NCDC boss noted that there are currently no approved vaccines or specific treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus disease, stressing that control efforts largely depend on rapid public health interventions.
“The current Bundibugyo virus outbreak has no licensed vaccines or approved targeted therapeutics. Existing Ebola vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatments are primarily directed against the Zaire ebolavirus and should therefore not be relied upon as available countermeasures for this outbreak strain,” he said.
Idris emphasised that Nigeria had not recorded any confirmed case of the outbreak at the time of the advisory