44 Quarantined in Abuja as Investigators Trace Ebola Link to Entebbe Airport
Nigeria has isolated 44 close contacts of a Ugandan-born diplomat's wife, the country's first Ebola patient in over a decade, while officials probe a potential exposure overlap with a fatal Kenyan case.
By Thomas Obasi ·
Nigeria recorded its first confirmed Ebola case in more than ten years on Tuesday, prompting a public health response that now spans the border with Uganda. The patient is the wife of a diplomat stationed in Abuja, born in Uganda, who returned to Nigeria earlier this month after a vacation in September.
Health officials have placed 44 individuals who were in close contact with the woman in quarantine. She is currently receiving treatment. Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed the status of the patient and the isolation measures during a press briefing on Thursday.
The investigation centers on a potential connection to Kenya, which logged its first Ebola case in early October. That initial Kenyan patient, who has since died, traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya via Uganda. Eight additional cases have been confirmed in Kenya since that first diagnosis.
Both the Nigerian patient and the deceased Kenyan patient were present at Entebbe International Airport on the same day. Mankoula stated that the Africa CDC is examining whether there was any interaction between the two individuals during their time at the airport. This inquiry aims to determine if the airport served as a point of contact that could explain the Nigerian infection.
The geographic spread of the virus marks a shift in the outbreak's trajectory. The current epidemic began in May in eastern Congo and has become the fastest-spreading on record. At least 4,600 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with roughly 9,700 infections reported. Neighboring Uganda initially reported about 20 cases but was declared free of the disease in August.
Nigeria is the fourth country on the continent to record a case in this outbreak. As the most populous nation in Africa, it is also the first in West Africa to report an infection. Its location represents the farthest geographic extent of the outbreak from the epicenter in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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. Patients are generally not considered infectious until symptoms appear, a factor that complicates contact tracing in transit hubs.
