The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, has asked Nigeria's first confirmed Ebola patient to share her complete travel history. This includes any contacts she had during her recent trip to Uganda. This information will help health officials understand how she got the virus.
Kaseya said the woman, who was born in Uganda and lives in Abuja, spent several days in her home country. Her husband, a diplomat, joined her there. They returned to Nigeria on 3 October.
In an interview on Channels Television's The Morning Brief on Thursday, Kaseya said investigators need more details about the woman's travels. They want to know if she left Kampala and met anyone who might have been exposed to the virus.
He said this information is crucial for the investigations by Nigerian and Ugandan authorities. It will also help prevent any disagreements between the two countries about where the infection might have come from.
"What we want is collaboration from this person, the lady. She has to disclose to the authorities," he said.
Kaseya explained that the Africa CDC is working closely with authorities in the region. They are trying to find out how the woman got infected and if she was exposed to the virus during her trip.
He emphasized that the woman must provide accurate information about her movements and contacts. This will help public health officials trace possible transmission links.
"I need this information, Nigeria needs this information because we need also to support Uganda," he said.
"She needs to tell us if she flew to the DRC; if she went out of Kampala; if she was in contact with someone who came from the DRC."
Kaseya added that getting this information will improve cooperation between countries working to manage the outbreak.
"I think these are the informations we are looking for, and it will help all of us and avoid a crisis between African countries."
Nigeria's first confirmed Ebola patient is the wife of a diplomat who went to Uganda's capital, Kampala, for a holiday. Kaseya had previously mentioned that the woman, originally from Uganda but living in Abuja, started showing symptoms three days after returning to Nigeria on 3 October.
In an interview with the BBC's Newshour programme, he said she first showed symptoms on 6 October and went to a private hospital. She thought she had malaria.
She later visited another private hospital, where she was admitted on 11 October after not getting better. "She went to the first hospital, a private hospital, thinking that she had malaria, and then she went to the second private hospital. She was admitted on the 11th," Kaseya told the BBC.
Nigeria's Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, confirmed that the 42-year-old woman spent two and a half weeks in Kampala before coming back to Abuja through Ethiopia. She had a two-hour stopover in Addis Ababa.
Pate said the patient tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday. She is stable and responding to treatment. Health authorities have identified 44 people who came into contact with her and are taking steps to prevent further spread.
"Not all of them have been in close proximity. We cast the net wide so that we contain it as broadly as possible," he told the BBC.
Kaseya's latest request comes as there are different reports about the patient's travels before reaching Nigeria. Uganda's Ministry of Health had earlier called her a Nigerian national who went to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for business, only passing through Uganda on her way back.
Ugandan authorities insisted that the country has no active confirmed Ebola cases. They said the woman's transit through Uganda does not mean she got the virus there.
Pate said Nigerian authorities are working with Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Africa CDC to get the patient's full travel history. They want to know where she might have caught the infection.
"We respect our sister nation of Uganda," he said. "We have very strong solidarity, we are all in it together."
Nigeria's case comes as the DRC is still dealing with an ongoing Ebola outbreak, with recent cases reported in other countries. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the DRC recorded 9,552 confirmed cases and 4,602 related deaths as of 19 October, based on data available up to 18 October. The outbreak has affected eight provinces.
Kenya has reported nine confirmed cases, including one death, as of 20 October, following an imported case involving someone who traveled from the DRC through Uganda.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged Nigerians to stay calm. They say that one imported case does not mean Nigeria is facing an Ebola outbreak. WHO Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, said the organization is helping Nigeria with case investigation, contact tracing, laboratory testing, infection prevention, and protecting health workers and communities.
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