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· As long as people are not careless, the World Cup should be a celebration of football, writes PAT ONUKWULI
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· Disease is a silent traveller with no passport. It slips past borders, ceremonies, politics and sport, moving softly where citizens speak loudly, and finding passage through weak surveillance, delayed response, human movement and official complacency.
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· The recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should therefore concern Nigeria and the wider world. Not because panic is necessary, but because preparedness is. Not because Congolese citizens or football supporters should be stigmatised, but because public health must never be left to chance.
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· This concern becomes more delicate because DR Congo is expected to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July 2026. The tournament will bring together millions of people across borders, airports, hotels, stadiums and cities. In such a setting, even a limited outbreak deserves serious attention.
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· Yet the matter must be placed in a proper context. Ebola is deadly, but it is not COVID-19. COVID-19 spreads widely through the air, often from people with mild or no symptoms. Ebola spreads mainly through direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is already sick or has died from the disease. It is more like a dangerous fire than harmattan dust: devastating where it catches, but not easily carried casually across open spaces.
· This distinction is important. A football fan from the DR Congo is not automatically a public health threat. A stadium is not, by itself, an Ebola danger zone. The real risk lies elsewhere: an exposed person may travel while still apparently well, develop symptoms later, and enter a home, hotel, clinic or hospital where the disease is not quickly recognised. In that gap between exposure and detection, danger can grow.
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· The lesson is therefore not fear, but vigilance. The recent hantavirus concern linked to a cruise ship in Spain reinforces the same point. Hantavirus differs from Ebola; it is primarily associated with rodents and contaminated environments. But both diseases teach one common lesson: in an interconnected world, distance is no longer a guarantee of safety. A ship, a flight, a border crossing or a tournament can test the readiness of any health system.
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· Nigeria should pay close attention. The country remembers Ebola. In 2014, Nigeria avoided disaster through speed, sacrifice, contact tracing, isolation, and public communication. That success must not become a sleeping tablet. It should be a standing instruction.
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· The Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Health, NCDC, Port Health Services, immigration authorities, airport operators and state health officials should immediately strengthen preparedness. Nigeria does not need drama; it needs discipline. It does not need border panic; it needs intelligent screening.
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· Travellers from affected areas should be assessed for travel history, exposure history and symptoms. Airports, seaports and land borders should have clear procedures for identifying and referring suspected cases. Health declaration systems should be strengthened. Airlines and border officials should know what to ask, who to call and where to send a possible case.
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· Hospitals are even more important than airports. A suspected Ebola case may not present at the point of entry. The person may first present to a private clinic, a general hospital, or an emergency ward with fever, weakness, vomiting, or diarrhoea. If health workers assume it is only malaria or typhoid, precious time may be lost.
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· Every state should therefore know its isolation pathway. Every major hospital should refresh infection-prevention protocols. Health workers should be protected with proper training, protective equipment, safe sample-handling procedures and clear reporting channels. One unprotected health worker can become both victim and amplifier.
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· Public communication must also be clear and humane. Nigerians should be told the truth without being frightened. Ebola is serious, but it does not spread through casual contact with a healthy person. People should report symptoms early, especially after travel to affected areas. They should avoid contact with the body fluids of sick persons and should not handle the bodies of suspected Ebola victims without official guidance.
· At the same time, the government must avoid language that defames the Congolese people. Disease control must be firm, but also fair. The issue is exposure, not nationality; symptoms, not identity.
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· For the World Cup, FIFA, host countries, WHO, Africa CDC and participating nations should coordinate closely. Team delegations should have health protocols. Host cities should prepare designated hospitals, isolation systems and contact-tracing teams. The goal should be simple: detect quickly, isolate safely, trace immediately and communicate responsibly.
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· Nigeria must also learn from the hantavirus episode. Rodent-borne diseases are not strange to the country. Lassa fever has already shown that poor sanitation, refuse heaps, open drainage, overcrowded markets and unsafe food storage can create conditions for disease. Public health is not only built in hospitals; it is also built in clean markets, functional drains, safe homes and responsive local governments.
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· In the end, the question is not whether Ebola will become another COVID-19. That is unlikely. The better question is whether governments will act early enough to prevent a limited outbreak from becoming an international emergency.
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· The World Cup should remain a celebration of football. DR Congo should not be treated as a symbol of danger. But celebration must not become carelessness, and sympathy must not replace surveillance. Nigeria should not panic. The world should not denounce. But no serious country should sleep at the gate while disease is testing the fence.
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· Dr. Onukwuli is a legal scholar and public affairs analyst. [email protected]
