Officials probe whether first Ebola patients in Kenya and Nigeria met at Ugandan airport

Health officials are examining whether the first Ebola patient confirmed in Nigeria came into contact with the first Kenyan patient at an airport in Uganda. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discussed the inquiry at a press briefing on Thursday.

Nigeria reported its first Ebola case in more than a decade on Tuesday. According to Nigerian health authorities, the patient is the Ugandan-born wife of a diplomat posted in Abuja. She had vacationed in Uganda in September and came back to Nigeria earlier this month.

Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response at the Africa CDC, said the woman is receiving treatment. A total of 44 people who were in close contact with her have been placed in quarantine. Investigators are also working to establish how she was exposed to the virus in the first place.

The Nigerian case is significant for its geography. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is the fourth on the continent to record an Ebola case in the current outbreak. It is the first in West Africa and lies the farthest from the epicenter in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

That outbreak started in May in eastern Congo and has become the fastest spreading on record. At least 4,600 people have died in Congo, and roughly 9,700 have been infected.

Neighboring Uganda initially reported about 20 cases but was declared free of Ebola in August. Kenya recorded its first case in early October, and eight more have since been confirmed there. The first Kenyan patient, who has died, had traveled from Congo to Kenya by way of Uganda.

Both that patient and the Nigerian case were at Entebbe International Airport on the same day, which is what prompted the investigation. Mankoula said the Africa CDC was looking into whether there was "some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport."

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or through contaminated items. It causes severe fever and can be fatal. People are generally not considered infectious until symptoms appear.