Nigeria Ebola: Diplomatic dispute clouds origin of first case since 2014

Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade, but a dispute over the patient’s travel history has left health officials without a clear map of how the virus entered the country. The patient is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat stationed in Abuja.

The Swiss foreign ministry stated on Friday that the woman likely contracted the virus while traveling with her husband in Uganda. This account directly contradicts earlier reports from Ugandan authorities, who maintained that the patient had visited the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak. A Ugandan government spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the country had recorded no new cases and would publicize any findings immediately.

The World Health Organization confirmed on Friday that it is still investigating the likely source of the infection. Catherine Smallwood, a WHO Ebola incident manager in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reported via video link to a UN briefing in Geneva that staff in the Congo had no information suggesting the patient had traveled to that country. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is currently examining a potential link to a Kenyan case, as both patients passed through Uganda’s Entebbe airport on October 3.

Dr. Wessam Mankoula, the head of emergency preparedness and response at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that officials must compare the timing of the airport transit with the onset of the Nigerian patient’s symptoms to determine if infection occurred there. However, Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist on the WHO’s emergency committee, described the airport theory as very speculative. She argued that random presence at a large airport does not constitute a supported epidemiological link without evidence of shared space.

Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s health minister, stated that the case remains contained and that contact tracing is ongoing. He said the primary goal is to prevent the virus from spreading into wider communities. Melaku Yirga, vice-president for Africa at Prosper Global, emphasized the need for rapid cross-border information sharing and adequate resources for frontline workers to manage the situation effectively.

The outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved treatment or vaccine exists. First announced on May 15, the epidemic has infected more than 9,500 people and killed nearly half of them. It is the largest and deadliest outbreak in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the second largest globally, trailing only the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic which infected over 28,600 people.

Uganda declared itself Ebola-free in August after reporting cases in May and June. The current Nigerian case marks the fourth African country affected by this outbreak, raising concerns about the speed of transmission across the region.