The World Health Organization (WHO) says the Ebola outbreak that emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is growing more “complex”, with cases now present in countries in East and West Africa, Reuters reported.
Source: Reuters via 234Radio
“We are facing a more complex outbreak landscape,” Mohamed Janabi, regional director for WHO in Africa, told an online media briefing on Thursday. Nigeria reported its first case of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola on Tuesday, becoming the fourth African country and the most populous yet to be affected by an outbreak that was announced in DRC in mid-May and has since killed more than 4,000 people there, Reuters reported.
Kenya, DRC and Nigeria all have active or recent cases of the Bundibugyo strain, while Uganda had cases earlier in the year but has since been declared Ebola-free, Reuters reported. Al Jazeera also carried the WHO warning on Thursday, noting health officials are investigating where Nigeria's first patient, confirmed this week, was infected.
Source: Al Jazeera
The unanswered question: where was Nigeria's patient infected?
The Nigeria patient is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja. Authorities in Uganda said she had travelled to eastern DRC before transiting through Uganda. But the WHO and Africa's top health agency said on Thursday they had not received confirmed information that the woman travelled to the DRC, Reuters reported.
A Swiss government statement to the Reuters news agency said the patient is believed to have contracted the disease while travelling in Uganda. Ugandan authorities rejected that suggestion: government spokesman Alan Kasujja told the AFP news agency that it was “preposterous” to link Uganda to the case simply because she had holidayed there.
Wessam Mankoula, head of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said on Thursday that both the first Nigerian case and the first Kenyan case had left Entebbe on October 3, and that a possible encounter between them was under investigation. Africa CDC director general Jean Kaseya said there was no validated information that she had been to DRC, and Pavel Ursu, the WHO representative in Nigeria, said the information given to the organisation included no travel outside Uganda, Reuters reported.
What is solid
- WHO Africa regional director Mohamed Janabi said on Thursday the outbreak landscape is 'more complex' (Reuters).
- Nigeria reported its first Bundibugyo-strain case on Tuesday, the fourth country affected; Kenya, DRC and Nigeria have active or recent cases, and Uganda was earlier declared Ebola-free (Reuters).
- The outbreak was announced in DRC in mid-May and has killed more than 4,000 people there, according to Reuters.
What is only claimed
- Where Nigeria's first patient was infected is unresolved: Uganda says she travelled to eastern DRC, the Swiss government told Reuters she is believed to have been infected while travelling in Uganda, Uganda's government spokesman rejected the Uganda link to AFP, and WHO/Africa CDC say they have no confirmed information she travelled to DRC.