Health officers are investigating whether or not Nigeria’s newest Ebola case and a deadly an infection in Kenya may very well be linked to possible contact at Uganda’s primary worldwide airport earlier this month, in response to a report by BBC News.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) stated each sufferers travelled via Entebbe International Airport on 3 October, prompting investigations into whether or not they shared tools or had different types of contact.
Wessam Mankoula, the company’s head of emergency preparedness and response, stated the likelihood was one in all a number of situations beneath investigation, however careworn that no connection had been established between the infections.
Tracing the supply
The investigation comes as Nigeria responds to its first confirmed Ebola case in greater than a decade, whereas Kenya has reported 9 infections, together with one demise, in its present outbreak.
The Nigerian affected person is a 42-year-old Ugandan-born girl residing in Abuja. She is receiving therapy in isolation and has proven indicators of enchancment, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated.
The girl returned to Nigeria on 3 October after spending about two and a half weeks in Uganda. Her journey included a two-hour stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
She developed signs few days after arriving in Abuja and visited two personal well being amenities earlier than testing constructive for Ebola on 20 October.
Investigators are working to determine the place she contracted the virus and whether or not her actions overlapped with these of the Kenyan affected person, who travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) via Uganda earlier than arriving in Nairobi on 3 October.
The Kenyan man later died, changing into the primary recorded Ebola demise in the nation’s present outbreak.
Although each sufferers handed via Entebbe on the identical day, officers haven’t confirmed whether or not they met, used the identical amenities or had some other contact.
Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) can also be conducting genomic sequencing to assist decide whether or not the an infection is said to different cases.
Conflicting accounts of journey historical past
Ugandan well being officers beforehand stated the Nigerian affected person had travelled to japanese DRC for enterprise, the place the present Ebola outbreak started.
However, the WHO, Africa CDC and Nigeria’s well being ministry stated that they had not acquired verified info confirming that she visited the nation.
Uganda has maintained that it has no confirmed lively Ebola cases, including that the girl’s passage via the nation doesn’t set up that she contracted the virus there.
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