The first confirmed Ebola patients in Kenya and Nigeria may have crossed paths at Uganda's Entebbe International Airport, according to African health officials, as new information from Switzerland contradicts Uganda's account of the Nigerian patient's travel history. Uganda, a country reporting no active Ebola infections, has become a focus of investigations into cases thousands of kilometers apart. Uganda insists it has no confirmed active cases of the deadly virus.
Yet health authorities in Kenya and Nigeria are investigating Ebola infections involving people whose travel histories or contacts are connected to the East African nation. Both patients passed through Entebbe International Airport on October 3, according to Wessam Mankoula, head of emergency preparedness and response at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Health officials say the two may have crossed paths, although it has not been established whether they encountered each other or whether any transmission occurred at the airport.
The differing accounts have raised questions about whether Uganda was simply a transit point for infected travelers, or could infections be going undetected along some of Africa's busiest cross-border routes? The latest developments come after Switzerland disputed claims that the Nigerian patient had visited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where an Ebola outbreak is underway. Nigeria's Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate confirmed an imported Ebola case in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, involving a woman who had recently traveled to East Africa, including Uganda.
"Today we are confirming that there has been one imported case of Ebola virus disease in the Federal Capital Territory," Pate said. The woman developed symptoms on October 7 and visited a private health facility on October 11. Further laboratory testing confirmed Ebola, and she was subsequently isolated for treatment.
Pate said the patient was stable and that health officials had identified 44 contacts, including healthcare workers, caregivers, patients and people who may have encountered her during her travels. But the woman's journey has become central to the investigation. Speaking on Thursday, Mankoula said the first confirmed patients in Kenya and Nigeria were both known to have traveled through Entebbe International Airport on October 3.
Investigators are examining whether the two patients were at the airport at the same time and whether their movements overlapped. Uganda's Health Ministry says preliminary findings indicate the Nigerian patient traveled to eastern DRCfor business before passing through Uganda without symptoms and returning to Nigeria. "Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here.
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