Swiss Embassy Says Diplomat's Wife Contracted Ebola in Uganda, Contradicting Local Officials
Health officials are investigating how the Ugandan-born woman contracted the virus, with conflicting travel accounts from Uganda and Switzerland complicating containment efforts.
By Sakura Novak ·
A Ugandan-born woman living in Abuja has tested positive for Ebola, marking Nigeria's first case in more than ten years and bringing the African outbreak to a fourth country. The patient is the wife of a Swiss diplomat, and health authorities are now working to determine where she was infected.
The Swiss foreign ministry stated on Friday that the woman did not travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak began in mid-May. The ministry said she likely contracted the virus while traveling in Uganda with her husband. This account conflicts with earlier reports from Ugandan officials, who previously said the patient had visited eastern DR Congo.
Uganda declared itself Ebola-free in August after reporting cases in May and June. A Ugandan government spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the country has no current Ebola cases and would release public information if that changed. The discrepancy in travel histories has raised questions about the ability to contain an outbreak that has become the most geographically widespread on record.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is examining a potential link to a patient in Kenya. Dr. Wessam Mankoula, the organization's head of emergency preparedness and response, noted that both individuals passed through Uganda's Entebbe airport on 3 October. Catherine Smallwood, a WHO Ebola incident manager in DR Congo, said that comparing the timing of the airport transit with the onset of the Nigerian patient's symptoms is necessary to determine if the infection occurred there.
Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist on the WHO's Ebola emergency committee, expressed doubt about the airport theory. She described the connection as speculative without evidence that the two shared the same space in a way that would explain transmission, noting that random presence at a large airport is not a supported epidemiological link.
Nigeria's health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, said the case is contained and contact tracing is ongoing. He stated that officials are working to prevent the virus from spreading into local communities. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved treatment or vaccine exists. First announced on 15 May, the epidemic has infected more than 9,500 people and killed nearly half of them.
