Nigeria, Oct. 22 -- It began, again, with a journey. On October 3, 2026, a woman arrived in Abuja from Uganda. By October 7, she developed symptoms, but when she visited a private hospital on October 11, her fever was initially mistaken for malaria. It was not until October 19 that her travel history raised concerns. On October 21, Olajumoke Babatunde, Director of Public Health Laboratory Service at the NCDC, confirmed that molecular tests had identified the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.

This was not the strain Nigeria encountered in 2014. The Bundibugyo strain is associated with the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where thousands of infections and deaths have been reported. Unlike the Zaire strain responsible ...