Nigeria’s first Ebola patient was Ugandan, Africa CDC says
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Dailytrust
Nigeria’s first reported Ebola patient is believed to have been Ugandan, not Nigerian as Uganda’s government had indicated. The Africa CDC and Nigerian health authorities gave a different account of her identity and movements, according to Dailytrust.
Nigeria’s first Ebola patient was from Uganda and lived in Abuja, contrary to the initial account given by Ugandan authorities, said Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). He told the BBC that the woman was the wife of a diplomat and fell ill after a stay in Kampala.
According to Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate, the 42-year-old patient spent about two and a half weeks in the Ugandan capital before returning to Nigeria on 3 October via Addis Ababa, where she had a two-hour stopover. She developed symptoms on 6 October, three days after her return, according to Jean Kaseya.
These details contradict the account given by Uganda’s Ministry of Health, which had presented the patient as a Nigerian who had returned from a business trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and had only transited through Uganda. Uganda’s director-general of health services, Charles Olaro, nevertheless said that passing through Uganda did not show that the infection had been contracted there.
Nigeria confirmed its first case of Ebola since the 2014 outbreak on 20 October. The controversy comes as Uganda confirmed on 21 October the absence of any active Ebola cases and authorities in the two countries coordinate their control measures.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
