Nigerian health authorities have identified two more suspected cases of Ebola virus disease, with 53 primary contacts now being monitored for possible exposure.
Jide Idris, Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja on Sunday.
Officials are working to establish whether the two suspected cases are confirmed and whether other people may have been exposed. Surveillance and contact tracing have been intensified to catch any infection early and limit further spread.
The NCDC has not yet disclosed where the suspected cases were identified, who the affected individuals are or what their laboratory tests show.
Primary contacts are people who may have had direct exposure to a suspected case. Monitoring them is a standard step in containing an outbreak.
Ebola is a severe and often fatal illness. It spreads through direct contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person, or of someone who has died from the disease.
The NCDC is Nigeria’s national public health agency, responsible for coordinating the prevention, detection and control of infectious disease outbreaks.
