Swiss Ministry Places Nigerian Ebola Patient in Uganda, Contradicting Local Records

The Swiss foreign ministry stated on Friday that the patient is the Ugandan-born spouse of a Swiss diplomat stationed in Abuja. The ministry said the woman did not travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak began. Instead, officials believe she caught the virus while travelling with her husband in Uganda.

This account conflicts with earlier statements from Ugandan authorities. Those officials had previously said the woman travelled to eastern DR Congo. The discrepancy has raised questions about the ability to contain an outbreak that has now spread to a fourth African country. Uganda reported cases in May and June of 2026. The World Health Organization declared the country Ebola-free in August. A Ugandan government spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the country had no current cases and would publish information if that changed.

The outbreak started in mid-May in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has since moved to Uganda, Kenya, and now Nigeria. The World Health Organization said investigations into the source of the Nigerian infection are continuing. Catherine Smallwood, a WHO Ebola incident manager in DR Congo, told a UN briefing in Geneva that staff had no information indicating the patient visited that country.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a possible link to a Kenyan case. Dr Wessam Mankoula, the organisation's head of emergency preparedness and response, said both individuals travelled through Uganda's Entebbe airport on 3 October. Smallwood noted that a link was possible but required a comparison of timing with the onset of symptoms to determine the likely place of infection.

Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist and member of the WHO's Ebola emergency committee, expressed doubt about the airport theory. She called the connection very speculative unless there is evidence of shared space that explains the infection. She added that random presence at a large airport is not a supported epidemiological link by current standards.

Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria's health minister, said the case remains contained. He stated that contact tracing is continuing to prevent the virus from spreading to local communities. Melaku Yirga, vice-president for Africa at Prosper Global, said the confirmed cases in Kenya and Nigeria show the need for close regional cooperation. He stressed the importance of speed and cross-border information sharing for frontline health workers.

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus. There is no approved treatment or vaccine for this strain. The disease has infected more than 9,500 people and killed nearly half of them. It is the largest and deadliest outbreak in DR Congo's history and the second largest globally, behind the 2014 and 2016 epidemic in west Africa.