Nigeria, Oct. 24 -- The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has confirmed that the Ebola virus detected in Nigeria is highly similar to the virus identified in Kenya's first imported case.

Mr Pate disclosed this on Friday during a briefing at the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, saying genomic sequencing showed that the viruses differed by only one mutation.

He said the analysis was conducted by sequencing teams at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the Institute of Genomics and Global Health at Redeemer's University, Ede, Osun State, with the team led by virologist Christian Happi.

However, he cautioned that the finding does not establish how the Nigerian first case acqu...