Uganda has announced that it has no active Ebola cases, but the outbreak in Kenya and Nigeria has prompted new investigations. African health officials have reported that two Ebola patients identified in Kenya and Nigeria may have crossed paths at Uganda's Entebbe International Airport.
Travel history of the patients
Both patients passed through Entebbe Airport on October 3. Wessam Mankola, head of emergency preparedness and response at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), stated that it is still unclear whether the two patients came into contact with each other.
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While Uganda insists that there are no active cases of this deadly virus in the country, health officials in Kenya and Nigeria are investigating Ebola cases related to travel history and contacts involving Uganda. Nigeria's Minister of Health, Muhammad Ali Pate, has confirmed that an imported Ebola case has been identified in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
Investigations into new cases
A woman infected with Ebola who recently traveled to East Africa showed symptoms of the disease on October 7 and visited a private health facility on October 11. Subsequent laboratory tests confirmed Ebola, and she was placed in quarantine for treatment.
Mankola also stated that the two confirmed patients in Kenya and Nigeria both passed through Entebbe Airport on October 3. Investigations are currently underway to determine whether these two patients were at the airport at the same time and whether their movements overlapped.
The Ugandan Ministry of Health has announced that preliminary results indicate the Nigerian patient traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for work and then returned to Uganda without symptoms before going back to Nigeria. Meanwhile, the Swiss Foreign Ministry has directly denied this claim, stating: "He and his wife did not travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo."
Given the challenges posed by cross-border trade and population movement, pinpointing the exact location of individuals' exposure to the Ebola virus is difficult. Investigations continue to determine whether the patients were infected in Uganda or not.
