YOLA, NIGERIA — The Adamawa suspected Ebola cases, a 34-year-old pilot and his wife, a medical doctor, have tested negative for the virus after two rounds of testing, Nigeria’s disease control agency said, leaving the case confirmed in Abuja on 20 October as the country’s only confirmed infection.
“Fortunately, the samples turned out negative for EVD after two rounds of testing,” Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Jide Idris, said in a statement on Saturday evening, Premium Times reported. There is no laboratory-confirmed Ebola case in Adamawa State, the agency said.
How the Adamawa suspected Ebola cases unfolded
Premium Times reported on 1 November, citing an internal memo dated 30 October and a preliminary report, that the pilot’s symptoms began on 13 October and his wife’s on 25 October. He travelled to Kenya on 14 October and returned to Nigeria on 25 October. “Prior to his departure, he reportedly developed a fever on 13 October 2026 and was treated for malaria,” the preliminary report said.
The couple were admitted to the isolation centre at Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital (MAUTH) in Yola on 29 October. Samples were collected on 30 October and sent to the National Reference Laboratory. The memo, signed by State Epidemiologist Jones Kadabiyu, said the Adamawa State Public Health Emergency Operations Centre received the report at 6:45 a.m., and listed 18 identified contacts, while the preliminary report dated 31 October cited 17.
The NCDC had earlier announced two suspected cases in the North-east without naming the state, cautioning that “being classified as suspected cases does not mean the individuals had tested positive for Ebola”.
The scare came 11 days after Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case caused by the Bundibugyo virus, in a woman who had travelled from Uganda to Abuja. She has since been medically evacuated to Switzerland. The NCDC’s latest situation report lists 62 contacts linked to that confirmed case, up from the 54 announced last week, all under monitoring.
Why travel history matters
The Adamawa suspected Ebola cases were flagged because of recent travel to Kenya, which has nine confirmed cases and two deaths, all in a single cluster linked to an imported case. The World Health Organization has rated the risk outside the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its neighbours as low, but health authorities treat anyone with compatible symptoms and travel to an affected country as a possible case until tests rule it out.
Testing such cases quickly and isolating patients while awaiting results is the core of the response. The negative results show the system working as intended: the couple were identified, isolated in a designated centre, tested twice and cleared, and their contacts were listed in case results had been positive.
The Adamawa suspected Ebola cases also show the role of state systems. The Adamawa State Public Health Emergency Operations Centre received the alert, a state epidemiologist compiled the report and a federal teaching hospital provided isolation, while samples went to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja. Coordination across those levels is what allows suspected cases far from Abuja to be tested within a day or two of admission.
The case also shows how often Ebola’s early symptoms overlap with common illnesses. Fever, fatigue and body aches are typical of malaria, and the pilot was treated for malaria before travelling. Clinicians are advised to ask about travel in every patient with unexplained fever, particularly as cases continue in East and Central Africa.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Pate has said genomic analysis showed the virus in Nigeria’s confirmed case was closely related to that in Kenya’s first imported case, but that this did not establish that the patient was infected in Kenya.
The WHO reported 10,274 confirmed cases and 4,992 deaths in the DRC as of 28 October. Nigeria is one of five countries to have detected Bundibugyo virus disease in the current outbreak, which began in the DRC in May.
Pate has said Nigeria could declare its outbreak over on 7 December if no new confirmed or probable cases are found, subject to validation of the 42-day countdown by the NCDC and WHO. The negative results in Adamawa do not affect that timeline, because no new case was confirmed.
Premium Times noted that the memo and preliminary report gave different contact counts. The NCDC did not say whether contacts of the Adamawa couple would continue to be monitored after the negative results.
Why it matters: Rapid isolation and testing in Yola shows Nigeria’s alert system working, while travel-history questions remain vital for every unexplained fever.
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