First Ebola Cases in Nigeria, Kenya May Have Crossed Paths in Uganda

African health officials are investigating the possibility that the first confirmed Ebola patients in Kenya and Nigeria may have crossed paths at Uganda's Entebbe International Airport earlier this month. This development comes as health authorities race to trace and contain an outbreak that has now spread to several African nations.

Dr. Wessam Mankoula, head of emergency preparedness and response at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that both patients were known to have traveled through Entebbe International Airport on October 3. "One of the issues we are currently investigating has been some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport," Mankoula said.

The current Ebola outbreak originated in the Congo in May. It has since been detected in three additional African countries, marking the continent's most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history.

Nigeria announced its first confirmed case on Tuesday, reporting that the patient had traveled from Uganda. However, Ugandan authorities have disputed this, suggesting the patient had traveled to the Congo, a claim now contested by health officials. According to Nigerian officials, the patient, a Ugandan-born wife of a diplomat in Abuja, had vacationed in Uganda for two weeks in September before arriving in Nigeria in early October. Nigeria is currently tracing 44 contacts, with additional contacts identified, though a specific new figure has not been provided.

Uganda had previously recorded 20 Ebola cases before being declared free of the disease in June. It is now believed to be linked to the new imported cases in Nigeria and Kenya. Kenya has reported nine cases, linked to a traveler who returned to Kenya from the Congo by way of Uganda.

Officials from the World Health Organization stated that the information provided to them did not indicate the Nigerian patient had traveled to another country during the relevant period. "The information supplied to WHO did not include travel to another country during that period, and other accounts about prior travels were not communicated to us," said Dr. Pavel Ursu, the WHO country representative in Nigeria.

The Congo has been contending with the virus, which has infected over 9,500 people and resulted in nearly 5,000 deaths. The disease has spread across eight provinces and 66 health zones in the country's eastern region. Data from the Africa CDC indicates that only 20% of confirmed cases are among known contacts, and approximately 60% of deaths occur within the community, outside of treatment centers, suggesting that the disease in some hotspots within the Congo is proving difficult to control.