Nigeria Isolates 44 Contacts as Africa CDC Examines Entebbe Airport Link
Health officials are checking whether Nigeria's first Ebola patient and Kenya's first case crossed paths at Entebbe International Airport.
By Noah Rao ·
Nigeria has placed 44 contacts of its first Ebola patient in quarantine while the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looks into whether she crossed paths with Kenya's first case at Entebbe International Airport. The Nigerian patient is receiving treatment, according to Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response at the Africa CDC.
Nigeria's case, confirmed Tuesday, is the first in the country in more than a decade. Nigerian health authorities identify the patient as the Ugandan-born wife of a diplomat posted in Abuja. She vacationed in Uganda in September and returned to Nigeria earlier this month. Investigators are still working to establish how she was exposed to the virus.
The Africa CDC discussed the inquiry at a press briefing on Thursday. Mankoula said the agency was looking into whether there was "some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport." Both the Nigerian patient and Kenya's first patient were at Entebbe International Airport on the same day, which prompted the investigation. The Kenyan patient, who has died, had traveled from Congo to Kenya by way of Uganda.
Kenya recorded its first case in early October and has since confirmed eight more. Uganda initially reported about 20 cases and was declared free of Ebola in August. The current outbreak began in May in eastern Congo, where at least 4,600 people have died and roughly 9,700 have been infected; Africa CDC describes it as the fastest spreading on record.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is the fourth on the continent to record a case in this outbreak and the first in West Africa. It lies farthest from the epicenter in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or through contaminated items, causes severe fever and can be fatal; people are generally not considered infectious until symptoms appear.
Mankoula said the woman is receiving treatment. Investigators are also working to establish how she was exposed to the virus.
Source: NPR
