Nigeria Quarantines 44 as Investigators Probe Airport Overlap with Kenyan Ebola Case

Health officials are determining if the first confirmed Ebola patient in Nigeria and the first patient in Kenya were in the same place at the same time. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) raised this specific inquiry during a press briefing on Thursday. Both individuals were present at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda on the same day, which triggered the current investigation.

Nigeria announced its first Ebola case in over ten years on Tuesday. The patient is the wife of a diplomat stationed in Abuja. She was born in Uganda and had visited her home country in September before returning to Nigeria earlier this month. Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response at the Africa CDC, confirmed the woman is currently receiving treatment.

A total of 44 people who had close contact with the Nigerian patient are now in quarantine. Investigators are working to determine how she initially contracted the virus. Mankoula stated that the Africa CDC is examining whether there was some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport.

The geographic location of the Nigerian case marks a shift in the outbreak. Nigeria is the fourth country on the continent to record an Ebola case in the current wave. It is the first in West Africa and is the farthest from the epicenter in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak began in eastern Congo in May and has become the fastest spreading on record. At least 4,600 people have died in Congo, and roughly 9,700 have been infected.

Neighboring Uganda initially reported about 20 cases but was 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, had traveled from Congo to Kenya by way of Uganda. Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or through contaminated items. People are generally not considered infectious until symptoms appear.

The Nigeria case involves a Ugandan-born woman living in Abuja. Her travel history places her in Uganda in September. The Kenyan case involves a patient who died after traveling through Uganda in October. The overlap at Entebbe International Airport is the focal point of the current probe by the Africa CDC.