Health
Lassa fever, cholera crisis worsen as fear of Ebola outbreak heightens
With 208 deaths from Lassa fever and 67 fatalities from cholera already recorded in 2026, Nigeria is grappling with multiple infectious disease outbreaks even as fears grow over the possibility of the recent Ebola outbreaks in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo spreading across borders.
While the country has not recorded any Ebola cases, the existing cases of Lassa fever and cholera, which have further recorded 829 confirmed cases and infected 5,260 people, respectively, show a crisis that is yet to be effectively contained despite being infectious diseases recorded yearly.
The latest figures from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, obtained by PUNCH Healthwise, show that cholera has infected 5,260 people and killed 67 others across 128 Local Government Areas in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory as of May 31, 2026.
In May, a contaminated community dam in Borno State, which served as the primary source of drinking water, was identified as the source of a cholera outbreak that affected seven Local Government Areas and infected about 3,000 residents.
Residents who depended on the dam for drinking, cooking and other domestic activities unknowingly consumed contaminated water and subsequently developed acute watery diarrhoea, one of cholera’s hallmark symptoms.
According to the NCDC, suspected cholera cases have increased by 73 per cent in May 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, with children under the age of five being the most affected population.
At the same time, Lassa fever continues to spread across several parts of the country, with young adults between the ages of 21 and 30 years being the most affected group.
The latest NCDC situation report showed that Nigeria recorded 829 confirmed Lassa fever cases and 208 deaths between epidemiological weeks one and 21 of 2026.
The death toll represents a sharp increase from the 141 deaths recorded during the corresponding period in 2025.
The report further revealed that the case fatality rate rose to 25.1 per cent this year, compared to 19.1 per cent during the same period last year.
Leading virologists who spoke to PUNCH Healthwise stressed that the continuous outbreaks of Lassa fever and cholera were linked to the state of healthcare facilities in the country, the lack of active infectious disease laboratories, routine surveillance and monitoring.
As Nigeria grapples with these outbreaks, the country’s interconnected borders, poor environmental sanitation, and overstretched healthcare system further heighten the fear of the spread of the Ebola virus into the country.
On May 15, 2026, health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda declared outbreaks of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus following laboratory-confirmed cases.
A day later, the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern under the International Health Regulations.
As of June 3, 2026, the DRC had reported 381 confirmed Ebola cases, including 64 deaths, while Uganda had recorded 15 confirmed cases and one death.
The NCDC says it has activated enhanced surveillance at international airports, intensified public sensitisation efforts among health workers and communities and placed some states on high alert.
The Director General of the Agency, Dr Jide Idris, said that Nigeria’s Ebola preparedness was at 59 per cent, while the Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said “Nigeria’s risk is low.”
However, virologists who spoke to PUNCH Healthwise warn that the country’s response remains largely reactive rather than preventive.
A renowned virologist and former Regional Virologist and Laboratory Coordinator for the WHO Africa Region, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, lamented that Nigeria continues to repeat the same mistakes despite decades of experience managing infectious disease outbreaks.
He stated that although cholera, Lassa fever and Ebola are all infectious diseases, each requires specific interventions tailored to its mode of transmission.
On cholera, Tomori argued that the continued outbreaks reflect failures in basic public health infrastructure.
He noted that many Nigerians still lack access to safe drinking water and are forced to rely on contaminated sources.
“We shouldn’t be having cholera in Nigeria at this time. Why should we? Why are people dying of cholera? It is a disease we know the cause of and what to do with it. With good water supply, we take care of cholera.
“People don’t even have water to drink. They’re going to other places, getting from wells, from stagnant pools, all those kinds of things. So what’s wrong with us? These are issues that we know the solution to, but we won’t do it,” he stated.
Tomori criticised Nigeria’s handling of Lassa fever, describing the country’s response as predictable and repetitive.
“As for Lassa fever, we are a country that would never learn from our errors. Since when has Lassa been with us? Since 1969. It was in the 80s that Lassa fever became every year.
“Each time January comes, we shout, Lassa has come, Lassa has come. But we know it’s coming. So if you won’t do anything about it in between the Lassa epidemic, then of course you get Lassa the next year.”
The virologist stressed that the period between outbreaks should be used to address the factors driving transmission rather than waiting until cases begin to surge.
“When it is coming in October, we should check what is responsible for it to come in October and should be addressing that in June, not wait until January to address it when it’s with us. Every year. So that’s one thing. So we know what to do, but we never do it,” he said.
While Ebola was not as common as Lassa fever and cholera in Nigeria, Tomori questioned repeated government assurances that Nigeria is prepared for another Ebola outbreak.
He warned that preparedness must go beyond airport screening and public statements to include functional diagnostic laboratories nationwide.
The virologist further stated that screenings at the airport and public places should be adequately explained to travelers to ensure truthful medical data collection and feedback.
“If Ebola comes to this country today, which lab is going to diagnose it? Which one?
“Let’s put our money into good laboratories, not just one lab in Abuja, but labs in the region or the states. Every state should have a lab that can do proper diagnosis,” he said.
The professor of virology stressed the need to have infectious disease labs and available reagents to test for diseases and aid in appropriate diagnosis.
“Nigeria is setting up a Lassa lab, COVID lab, where you should actually have labs that can do diagnosis of diseases and not just individual cases. We don’t have the resources for that. Build up your lab, expand your horizon, so they can diagnose anything that comes.
“Let’s forget about preparedness. We are not. We are only making noise,” Tomori said.
Also, a renowned Professor of Medical Virology, Prof Sunday Omilabu, said Nigeria’s recurring outbreaks expose weaknesses in surveillance and preparedness.
He stated that the country focused on emergencies rather than routine monitoring and surveillance.
“Lassa and cholera are very known agents that have been tormenting us. There is never a year that Nigeria don’t report cases of Lassa as well as cholera. So, that one should not be strange to us, and it has to do with the state of our healthcare facilities.
“These agents, are they properly monitored? We only act when there is an emergency, and once the emergency is over, we close our doors to other active surveillance to check where we can have it.
“We are supposed to institute routine surveillance, not when we have the incident. Even after the incident, we are supposed to be monitoring. There are supposed to be feelers to let us know where can we have outbreak. We can get this from our surveillance data. But we don’t have surveillance going on; we don’t know what is happening around us. It is not that we cannot do it, but we do put priority on surveillance. So, that’s very, very key,” the Director of the Centre for Human and Zoonotic Virology at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, said.
Omilabu stated that Ebola was not a disease common to Nigeria, stating that the last time it was recorded in the country was in 2014-2015, when it came in through the West African sub-region, Sierra Leone.
He urged authorities to strengthen monitoring at airports and land borders.
“So, we need to be vigilant through our international airports, through our international borders, to make sure we carry out surveillance activities,” the medical virologist of over three decades said.
He also advocated environmental surveillance of aircraft arriving from affected regions.
“We need to mount our surveillance gadget at the international airports, looking at the waste from the aircraft, especially those that are carrying passengers from the eastern part of Africa, where we have Ebola spreading,” Omilabu said.
The virologist linked the ongoing cholera crisis, particularly in Borno State, to poor access to potable water.
Omilabu warned that an Ebola outbreak would further strain an already overstretched health system.
“The health facilities are already under pressure. In the sense that they lack most of the materials needed to take care of patients,” he said.
The medical virologist added that the country must urgently invest in surveillance, laboratory capacity, health education and hospital preparedness to reduce the impact of existing outbreaks and guard against the risk of Ebola entering Nigeria.
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