African Health Officials Probe Airport Where Two Ebola Patients Crossed Paths

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday it is reviewing whether Nigeria's first confirmed Ebola patient had contact with Kenya's first case at Entebbe International Airport. Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response at the agency, told reporters investigators were looking into whether there was "some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport."

Nigeria reported the case on Tuesday, its first in more than a decade. Health authorities there identified the patient as the Ugandan-born wife of a diplomat posted in Abuja. She had vacationed in Uganda in September and returned to Nigeria earlier this month. Her treatment is ongoing, and 44 people who had close contact with her have been placed in quarantine. Investigators are also working to determine how she was exposed to the virus.

Nigeria is the fourth African country to record a case in the current outbreak, the first in West Africa, and the farthest from the epicenter in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak began in eastern Congo in May and has spread faster than any previous one, with at least 4,600 deaths and roughly 9,700 infections recorded in Congo. Uganda reported about 20 cases before being declared free of the virus in August. Kenya recorded its first case in early October and has since confirmed eight more. The first Kenyan patient, who has since died, had traveled from Congo to Kenya through Uganda.

Both that patient and Nigeria's case were present at Entebbe International Airport on the same day, which is what prompted the inquiry. Ebola spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated objects, causes severe fever, and can be fatal. People are generally not considered contagious until symptoms appear.