44 Isolated in Abuja as Health Officials Trace Airport Link to Ebola
Investigators are checking if the first Ebola patients in Nigeria and Kenya crossed paths at Entebbe International Airport.
By Leila Santos ·
Nigeria has isolated 44 people in Abuja while health officials investigate whether the country's first Ebola case since 2014 was linked to a patient in Kenya. The inquiry focuses on a potential contact point at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda.
Nigerian health authorities reported the new case on Tuesday. The patient is a Ugandan-born woman serving as the wife of a diplomat based in Abuja. She spent time on vacation in Uganda in September and returned to Nigeria earlier this month. Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed she is currently receiving treatment.
The investigation was triggered because the deceased first Kenyan patient and the Nigerian woman were both at the same airport on the same day. That Kenyan patient had traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya via Uganda. Mankoula stated that the agency is examining whether there was some sort of interaction between the two cases at the facility.
Nigeria is the fourth African nation to report an Ebola case during the current outbreak. It marks the first confirmed case in West Africa and represents the farthest geographic spread from the epidemic's origin in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak began in eastern Congo in May and is the fastest spreading on record.
The virus has infected roughly 9,700 people in Congo, with at least 4,600 deaths. Neighboring Uganda initially reported about 20 cases but was declared free of the disease in August. Kenya recorded its first case in early October, and eight additional cases have been confirmed in the country since then.
Ebola transmits through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or through contaminated items. The disease causes severe fever and can be fatal, though individuals are generally not considered infectious until symptoms appear. Investigators are working to establish how the Nigerian woman was first exposed to the virus.
Source: NPR
