First Nigeria and Kenya Ebola patients may have crossed paths at Uganda airport, officials say

Health officials are investigating whether Ebola patients in Nigeria and Kenya may have crossed paths at Uganda's main airport earlier this month. Both individuals traveled through Entebbe airport on 3 October, and investigators are examining whether they could have been exposed through shared equipment or other contact, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

Dr. Wessam Mankoula, the agency's head of emergency preparedness and response, stated that this was "one of the possible scenarios," but emphasized that no link had been established yet. Nigeria is currently battling its first Ebola case in over a decade, while Kenya has confirmed nine infections, including one death.

The Nigerian patient, a 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman residing in Abuja, is receiving treatment in isolation and is showing signs of improvement, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). She is married to a Swiss diplomat based in Nigeria, whose foreign ministry confirmed to Reuters that he accompanied her on a trip to Uganda. He is also in isolation but has not developed symptoms.

The woman returned to Nigeria on 3 October after spending approximately two and a half weeks in Uganda, traveling through Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, where she had a two-hour stopover. She developed symptoms four days after arriving in Abuja and sought treatment at two private health facilities before testing positive for Ebola on 20 October.

Health officials are now trying to establish where she contracted the virus and whether her movements overlapped with those of the Kenyan patient. The Kenyan man had traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo through Uganda before arriving in Nairobi on 3 October. He later died, marking Kenya's first recorded Ebola death in the current outbreak.