The World Health Organization's Africa director warned on Thursday that the continent is now facing a "complex" Ebola outbreak after the virus crossed from east Africa to Nigeria, which has reported the first case in west Africa.
"We are facing a more complex outbreak landscape. Nigeria has confirmed an imported case of Ebola virus disease," Mohamed Janabi, the WHO's regional director for Africa, told an online media briefing.
Nigeria announced the imported case on Tuesday. The patient is a woman, a diplomat, who had travelled to Uganda and was infected with the Bundibugyo strain driving the major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The continent's most populous nation is now the fourth African country affected by the outbreak, which this week came to span the continent. Kenya in the east has reported nine cases since 6 October.
The case has reignited memories of the devastating 2014 outbreak that struck several countries across the region, killing more than 11,000 people across west Africa between late 2013 and 2016.
Nigeria's successful containment of Ebola during that crisis has raised confidence that the country can respond effectively to new public health threats.
The DRC's Ebola epidemic has become the deadliest in the country's history, killing 4,381 people out of more than 9,000 confirmed cases since mid-May, according to health authorities.
A trial of the Ervebo vaccine is under way in eastern Congo. Researchers hope to determine whether the jab approved for the Zaire strain of the virus is effective against the Bundibugyo strain driving the current outbreak. The WHO said in August that 70,000 doses of Ervebo had been approved for use in Congo.
About 50,000 doses are intended for frontline and health workers, while 20,000 doses will be used in a clinical trial to study whether the vaccine protects against Bundibugyo, which currently has no licensed vaccine or treatment.
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