WHO warns ‘more complex’ Ebola outbreak now present in 3 African countries

Health officials are investigating where Nigeria’s first patient, confirmed this week, was infected.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.This comes as health authorities investigate where Nigeria’s first case, which was confirmed this week, originated, raising questions about whether the patient crossed paths with Kenya’s first patient at a Ugandan airport.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Kenya on high alert amid concern over screening after first Ebola deathlist 2 of 3Kenya confirms four more Ebola cases, bringing total to sevenlist 3 of 3Nigeria’s first Ebola case matches DR Congo strain, health officials sayend of list“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 Ebola" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="128429" data-entity-type="topic">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.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.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.A Swiss government statement to the Reuters news agency also said the patient is believed to have contracted the disease while travelling in Uganda.Wessam Mankoula, the 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.