The Ebola epidemic that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this year has achieved a grim new milestone, turning up in a third region of the African continent, the widest footprint of any Ebola outbreak to date.

This week, health officials identified a new case in Abuja, Nigeria, more than 2,000 miles west of the outbreak’s epicenter in Central Africa. The news came the same day as the announcement of a ninth case of Ebola in the East African country of Kenya.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview on Wednesday that he was calling for a meeting of all African health ministers on Oct. 28. If they cannot come up with ways to stamp out the outbreak, he said, “the whole continent can be affected.”

Since the first case was identified in May, Congo has recorded more than 9,700 confirmed cases and more than 4,600 deaths, making the outbreak the fastest growing Ebola epidemic ever. Within Congo, the disease has spread to eight provinces, and about 70 percent of new cases occur in the community, suggesting widespread undetected transmission.