Nigeria quarantines 44 people after tracing Ebola case to Ugandan airport

Nigerian health authorities have placed 44 individuals in isolation after confirming the country's first Ebola case in over ten years. The patient, a diplomat's wife of Ugandan origin, returned to Abuja earlier this month following a trip to Uganda. Officials are currently determining if she contracted the virus during a transit stop at Entebbe International Airport.

The inquiry focuses on a potential overlap between this patient and the first confirmed case in Kenya. Both individuals were present at the Ugandan airport on the same day. Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that the agency is looking into whether there was some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport.

The timeline of the current outbreak began in May in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It has since become the fastest spreading on record, with roughly 9,700 infections and at least 4,600 deaths reported in Congo. Neighboring Uganda recorded about 20 cases but was declared free of the disease in August. Kenya logged its first case in early October and has since confirmed eight additional infections. The first Kenyan patient, who died, traveled from Congo to Kenya via Uganda.

Nigeria's new case marks the fourth country in Africa to report an infection in this outbreak. As the continent's most populous nation, Nigeria is the first West African country to be affected. Its location is the farthest from the epicenter in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The patient is currently receiving treatment in Abuja. Her exposure to the virus remains under investigation.

The Africa CDC discussed the inquiry at a press briefing on Thursday. Mankoula confirmed that the woman is being treated and that 44 close contacts are in quarantine. Health officials continue to work to establish how she was initially exposed to the pathogen.

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. Individuals are generally not considered infectious until symptoms appear. The current probe aims to clarify the transmission chain between the Kenyan and Nigerian cases.