Nigeria’s Ebola patient may have caught virus in Uganda, Swiss government says

Nigeria’s confirmed Ebola case has taken a new turn after the Swiss government said the infected woman was believed to have contracted the virus during a trip to Uganda, although health authorities have yet to establish where she became infected.

Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs disclosed the assessment in a statement on Thursday, saying the woman, who was born in Uganda and is married to a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, had been receiving treatment at a private clinic in the Nigerian capital for about a week.

The woman returned to Abuja with her husband on October 3 after travelling to Uganda. Her husband has been placed in isolation but has not developed symptoms, according to the Swiss government.

Nigeria confirmed its first case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease on October 20 after laboratory tests detected the infection in the woman. The case is the country’s first confirmed Ebola infection in more than a decade.

However, the precise source of the infection remains unclear, with officials investigating the woman’s movements before she fell ill.

Ugandan authorities previously said the woman had travelled to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for business before passing through Uganda. They maintained that her transit through Uganda did not establish that she contracted the virus there.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have also said they had not received verified information confirming that the woman travelled to the DRC, where the current Ebola outbreak began.

WHO representative to Nigeria Pavel Ursu said information available to the agency indicated that the woman had stayed in Uganda from September 16 before returning to Abuja on October 3. Investigators are working to establish her full travel and exposure history.

Uganda’s government spokesperson, Alan Kasujja, said on Thursday that the country had no confirmed active Ebola cases. Uganda recorded 20 cases between May and June, with most linked to infections imported from the DRC, before the WHO declared the outbreak over in August.

Meanwhile, investigators are examining a possible connection between Nigeria’s case and an Ebola infection reported in Kenya. Both patients travelled through Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport on the same day, prompting the Africa CDC to investigate whether they could have crossed paths.

Kenya confirmed its first case on October 6 and has since reported eight additional cases. Kenyan health ministry director-general Patrick Amoth said authorities had traced all 135 contacts associated with the country’s initial case.

The final contact to be located was a Ugandan citizen who had arrived in Kenya on the same flight as the initial patient but later left the country by road through the Namanga border crossing into Tanzania.

Africa CDC officials said possible transmission between the Nigerian and Kenyan patients was among the scenarios being investigated. No confirmed link between the two cases has been established.

In Nigeria, health authorities have identified 44 contacts connected to the infected woman and begun monitoring them for possible symptoms. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has activated its incident management system, while international partners are supporting investigations, contact tracing and infection prevention measures.

The infection is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus. The disease spreads through direct contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of infected people, including deceased patients, or contaminated materials.

Symptoms can include fever, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea, while severe cases may involve internal or external bleeding. There is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo virus, although supportive medical care can improve patients’ chances of survival.

Health authorities are continuing to investigate the woman’s movements and possible exposure points to determine how she contracted the virus and whether further transmission occurred.