EbolaAlert Nigeria
EbolaAlert
Ebola in Nigeria · what we know tonight

One case, isolated. Contacts are being followed. Here is what you can do.

Nigeria has confirmed one case of Ebola in Abuja, in a traveller who arrived from Uganda. She is in isolation and receiving care. Health teams are following everyone she was in contact with.

Updated 20 October 2026, 21:30 WAT · Source: Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, NCDC

1confirmed case in Nigeria, imported
44contacts being followed daily. Contacts are not cases.
21days is the longest it takes for symptoms to appear
For most people in Nigeria, the risk right now is low.

Ebola does not spread through the air like flu or COVID-19. It spreads through close contact with the body fluids of someone who is already sick. That is why finding and following contacts works. If the situation changes, this page will say so plainly.

Start here

I'm worried about myself or someone I live with

Four questions, about one minute. Tells you whether to call and what to do while you wait.

Take the self-check →

I'm a health worker or pharmacist

Exposure and symptom screen built on the current spread, ending in an NCDC handover script.

Open the screening tool →

How Ebola spreads, and how it doesn't

It can spread through

  • Blood, vomit, stool, urine or sweat of a person who is sick with Ebola
  • The body of someone who died of Ebola
  • Bedding, clothes or needles soiled with those fluids
  • Handling sick or dead wild animals

It does not spread through

  • The air, the way coughs and colds do
  • A person who has no symptoms
  • Sitting near someone on a bus or in a market who is well
  • Water, mosquitoes, or properly cooked food

Why 44 contacts is not 44 cases

A contact is anyone who may have been near the patient: family, people at the hospital, fellow travellers. Health workers check each of them every day for 21 days.

Most contacts never get sick. Following them means that if anyone does fall ill, they are isolated early, before they can pass it on. A long contact list is a sign the system is working.

Confirmed caseContact under daily follow-up

Six things that protect you, your family and your patients

Before you believe or forward it

Salt water baths or drinks prevent Ebola.They do not, and in 2014 they made people seriously ill. Soap and water is what works.
Bitter kola, herbs or antibiotics protect you.Nothing you can buy prevents Ebola. Do not self-medicate a fever; get tested.
Stay away from hospitals until this is over.Keep going for malaria tests, antenatal care and children's vaccines. Hospitals are taking extra precautions.
People from a certain place are spreading it.The virus does not care where anyone is from. Stigma makes people hide symptoms, which is how outbreaks grow.

A quick check before forwarding any Ebola message

  1. Does it name an official source: NCDC, the Federal Ministry of Health, a State Ministry of Health or WHO?
  2. Can you find the same claim on ncdc.gov.ng or the NCDC social accounts?
  3. Does it ask you to panic, hide, or take something? Treat that as a warning sign.

Know the signs

Ebola usually starts like many common illnesses. It matters only if the person was exposed in the last 21 days: travel to an affected area, or close contact with someone sick with Ebola.

FeverSevere headacheWeaknessMuscle painVomitingDiarrhoeaStomach painUnexplained bleeding
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Call NCDC first, before going to a hospital or pharmacy, if you have symptoms and a possible exposure. Free, 24 hours, every network.