Public health officials across East and West Africa are racing to track the spread of a deadly regional Ebola outbreak after newly confirmed cases in Kenya and Nigeria were tied to travel through Uganda’s primary international hub. The developments have placed Entebbe International Airport at the center of an international epidemiological investigation, sparking concerns about undetected transmission along major African travel routes.
According to Wessam Mankoula, head of emergency preparedness and response at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), both the first confirmed patient in Kenya and a newly diagnosed patient in Nigeria passed through Entebbe International Airport on October 3.
Investigators are currently working to determine whether the two individuals crossed paths, overlapped in shared transit areas, or if transmission occurred inside the airport terminal. The Kenyan patient, who had traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) via Uganda, died in Nairobi on October 5. Meanwhile, Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate confirmed that a woman who recently arrived in Abuja tested positive for Ebola after showing symptoms on October 7 and seeking medical care on October 11. Health workers in Nigeria have identified 44 contacts associated with her case, including healthcare workers and travel companions.
The investigation has been further complicated by conflicting statements regarding the Nigerian patient’s whereabouts prior to her flight. Uganda’s Health Ministry initially reported that the woman traveled to eastern DRC for business before transiting through Uganda without displaying symptoms.
“Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here,” the Ugandan ministry stated in a public release, maintaining that the country currently has no active, confirmed Ebola cases within its borders.
However, Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs directly disputed Uganda’s statement. The patient, identified as a Swiss national of Ugandan origin married to a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, did not visit the DRC, according to Swiss officials. In comments provided to news agencies, Swiss authorities suggested the woman may have contracted the virus while traveling within Uganda itself—a claim that neither the World Health Organization (WHO) nor the Africa CDC has independently verified.
The situation highlights the persistent difficulty of screening for infectious diseases at major transit hubs. Ebola carries an incubation period ranging from 2 to 21 days, and individuals infected with the virus are not considered contagious until physical symptoms manifest. Consequently, standard thermal scanners and visual health checks at airport checkpoints can easily miss asymptomatic carriers.
In Kenya, health authorities are actively searching for a Ugandan national identified as a close contact of the patient who died in Nairobi. Dr. Patrick Amoth, Kenya’s Director-General for Health, noted that while the individual’s name and passport details are known, efforts to reach him have been hindered because he is utilizing a South Sudanese phone number.
The confirmation of an Ebola case in Nigeria’s capital has raised anxieties among residents, recalling previous outbreaks that strained local healthcare infrastructure. Regional authorities have responded by ramping up contact tracing, increasing personal protective equipment supplies, and deploying additional health screeners to border control points.
To address the growing cross-border challenge and harmonize epidemiological data, the Africa CDC has convened an extraordinary virtual meeting of national health officials scheduled for October 28.
