Health · Public Health & Disease · 2 hrs ago
Kenya and Nigeria Ebola patients may have crossed paths in Uganda
Health officials are investigating whether Kenya’s and Nigeria’s first confirmed Ebola patients crossed paths at Entebbe airport in Uganda on Oct.
3.
The Africa CDC says both patients travelled through the airport that day, but there is no confirmed evidence they interacted.
The Nigerian patient is a Uganda-born woman who travelled to Nigeria from Uganda, where she had spent two weeks in September.
Officials have not found evidence that she travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak began; the Kenyan patient had returned from Congo through Uganda.
Kenya has recorded nine cases linked to the traveller from Congo, while Nigeria is tracing 44 contacts of its patient.
The Congo outbreak has infected more than 9,500 people, and many cases are not among known contacts, making it harder to track and contain.
Investigators are still checking how the Nigerian patient became infected, while health officials continue contact tracing and urge stronger screening and surveillance around Congo.
Health officials are investigating whether the first confirmed Ebola patients in Kenya and Nigeria crossed paths at Uganda’s Entebbe airport on 3 October.
Africa CDC official Wessam Mankoula said possible interaction between the two patients is one theory, but the source of Nigeria’s infection has not been established.
The Nigerian patient, a Uganda-born wife of a diplomat, had spent two weeks in Uganda in September and arrived in Nigeria in early October.
Nigeria is tracing 44 contacts of the patient, while Kenya has recorded nine cases linked to a traveler who returned from Congo through Uganda.
Ugandan authorities denied that the Nigerian patient was exposed in Uganda and said she had traveled to Congo, a claim disputed by health officials.
- Who
- The first confirmed Ebola patients in Kenya and Nigeria may have crossed paths. Africa CDC officials are investigating.
- What
- Health officials are examining whether the patients interacted at Entebbe airport, as they investigate how the Nigerian patient became infected.
- When
- Both patients were at Entebbe airport on 3 October, according to Mankoula.
- Where
- Entebbe International Airport in Uganda.
- Why
- Officials are investigating whether an airport interaction could explain the Nigerian patient’s infection. The source has not been confirmed.
Ugandan authorities
Other health officials
Patient’s exposure
Ugandan authorities
Denied that the Nigerian patient was exposed in Uganda and said she had traveled to Congo.
Other health officials
Disputed Uganda’s account; Mankoula said there was no indication the Nigerian patient traveled to Congo.
The Nigerian patient visited Uganda for two weeks.
Both patients were reported to have traveled through Entebbe International Airport.
The Nigerian patient began feeling sick.
The Nigerian patient was admitted to a health facility and initially diagnosed with malaria.
The health facility suspected Ebola and tested the patient; the test confirmed Ebola.
Africa CDC officials said a possible interaction between the patients at the airport was under investigation.
- Airport
- Entebbe International Airport, Uganda
- Possible meeting
- 3 October
- Nigeria patient’s contacts
- 44 being traced
- Kenya cases
- 9 reported, linked to a traveler who returned from Congo through Uganda
- Nigerian patient
- Uganda-born wife of a diplomat in Abuja
3 sources
What people are saying
One of the issues we are currently investigating has been some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport
There are a lot of possibilities. A lot of effort is going into the investigation to verify the source of the infection. So let’s avoid anticipating the investigation and try to reach a conclusion at this stage.
The information supplied to WHO did not include travel to another country during that period, and other accounts about prior travels were not communicated to us.