•Health workers attend to an Ebola patient in Democratic Republic of Congo

Ebola is a severe viral disease that can cause high levels of mortality.

The WHO says the average case fatality rate across Ebola disease outbreaks is approximately 50 per cent, although the rate varies substantially according to the virus, outbreak circumstances and access to care.

The virus is not airborne in the manner of infections that spread through ordinary breathing in shared indoor spaces.

According to the WHO, transmission between people occurs primarily through direct contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person who has developed symptoms, or someone who has died from the disease.

Infection can occur when contaminated fluids enter the body through broken skin or the eyes, nose or mouth.

Objects contaminated with infectious body fluids, including clothing, bedding and medical equipment, can also spread the virus.

People may also become infected through contact with infected animals, particularly when handling sick or dead wildlife or consuming inadequately handled products from infected animals.

Traditional burial practices involving direct contact with the body of someone who died from Ebola can contribute to transmission if appropriate precautions are not taken.

Healthcare workers and family members caring for patients without suitable protective measures can face a heightened risk.

The WHO says people infected with Ebola do not transmit the disease before symptoms develop.

Once symptoms begin, they can remain infectious while the virus is present in their blood.

The incubation period — the time between infection and the appearance of symptoms — ranges from two to 21 days.

The Federal Government has confirmed Nigeria’s first case of Ebola virus disease in the current regional outbreak, authorities announced Tuesday.

A woman who recently arrived in the country on an international flight from Uganda tested positive after being treated for several days at a private hospital in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Laboratory confirmation was received on October 20.

The patient is now in isolation and receiving medical care. Health officials have identified 44 close contacts so far and begun contact tracing. These include healthcare workers, other patients, caregivers, and travel contacts.

Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate said the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), and FCT health authorities are working together to contain the infection and prevent further spread. Surveillance has been intensified, and the hospital where the patient was treated is receiving support to strengthen infection prevention and control measures.

Pate urged healthcare facilities nationwide to maintain a high index of suspicion, promptly isolate suspected cases, and report them immediately. He also called on the public to cooperate with contact-tracing teams, avoid spreading unverified information, and refrain from stigmatising those who may have been exposed.

Nigeria successfully contained an Ebola outbreak in 2014. Officials say the country has the experience and public health systems needed to respond to this case. The confirmation comes amid a wider regional outbreak linked to cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere.

Millions of bedbugs were crawling out of mattresses in what a pest controller said was the worst outbreak he had seen in 38 years.

They were even in the walls and under the wallpaper, with the mattresses and bed frames needing to be incinerated.

Cardiff pest controller Gareth Davies had to wear full protection as his team tackled the problem in the Canton area of the city, using a specialist vacuum cleaner to collect millions of the bugs.

It came after they had tackled a large cockroach outbreak last month in a scene he likened to a horror movie.

“This house was just horrific,” he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

“Hundreds of thousands of them when you lifted the mattresses up.

“They were coming out of the wallpaper, it was horrendous.”

Bedbugs can enter homes on clothes, luggage, or second hand furniture – and “hide” in mattresses or walls, according to the NHS.

Credit: BBC