In brief
A 42‑year‑old Ugandan‑born woman living in Abuja became Nigeria’s first confirmed Ebola case in more than ten years, and she is the wife of a Swiss diplomat. Swiss authorities confirmed the diagnosis on 20 October, while her husband remains asymptomatic in isolation. Health officials traced her travel to Uganda, where the outbreak has subsided, but the exact source of infection remains unclear. Comprehensive contact tracing, genomic sequencing, and coordination with the WHO and Africa CDC are underway as Nigeria monitors the situation.
Switzerland’s foreign ministry confirmed that a 42‑year‑old Ugandan‑born woman living in Abuja tested positive for Ebola on 20 October, becoming Nigeria’s first confirmed case in over a decade. She is the wife of a Swiss diplomat, whose husband is in isolation but has not shown symptoms.
All 25 staff at the Swiss embassy in Nigeria were found healthy after consultation with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and the WHO, and the embassy remained open with enhanced safety measures.
The woman had spent a week at a private clinic in Abuja when her symptoms appeared. Authorities suspect she contracted the virus while travelling in Uganda earlier that month, though the exact source has yet to be identified.
Nigeria’s National Centre for Disease Control, the Africa CDC and the WHO are conducting genomic sequencing to determine if her infection links to recent cases in the region. She is currently in isolation and showing signs of improvement.
The outbreak has renewed concerns over cross‑border movement of infected individuals between DR Congo, Uganda, and neighbouring Kenya, where a Kenyan man died after traveling through Uganda into Nairobi.
