Africa CDC Examines Entebbe Airport for Contact Between Ebola Cases
Investigators are checking whether the first Kenyan and Nigerian patients were at Uganda's Entebbe International Airport on the same day.
By Larissa Shah ·
Africa CDC investigators are reviewing whether the first Ebola patient confirmed in Kenya and Nigeria's first case in more than a decade came into contact at Uganda's Entebbe International Airport. Both patients were present at the airport on the same date, which prompted the inquiry discussed at an Africa CDC briefing on Thursday.
Nigeria reported its case on Tuesday. Nigerian health authorities identified the patient as the Ugandan-born wife of a diplomat posted in Abuja. She traveled to Uganda in September and returned to Nigeria earlier this month. Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response at the Africa CDC, said the woman is receiving treatment and that 44 close contacts have been placed in quarantine. Investigators are working to determine how she was exposed. Mankoula said the Africa CDC was looking into whether there was "some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport."
The investigation sits within a wider outbreak that began in May in eastern Congo. At least 4,600 people have died in Congo, and roughly 9,700 have been infected. Uganda initially reported about 20 cases before being declared free of Ebola in August. Kenya recorded its first case in early October, and eight more have since been confirmed there. The first Kenyan patient, who has died, traveled from Congo to Kenya by way of Uganda. Nigeria is the fourth African country to record a case in the current outbreak, the first in West Africa, and the farthest from the Congo epicenter.
The next step in the inquiry is the Africa CDC's work to establish whether the two patients interacted at Entebbe International Airport. Investigators are also working to trace how the Nigerian patient was exposed to the virus. Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or through contaminated items, and people are generally not considered infectious until symptoms appear.
The Africa CDC briefed reporters on the investigation on Thursday. Nigeria's case was reported on Tuesday. Kenya recorded its first case in early October.
