9,500 Infections: Nigeria Confirms First Ebola Case in a Decade Amid Travel Dispute

Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola case in over a decade, adding to an outbreak that has now infected more than 9,500 people across three countries. The patient is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat stationed in Abuja. Her diagnosis marks the fourth African nation affected by the current surge of the Bundibugyo virus, a strain with no approved vaccine or treatment.

The exact location of infection remains a point of contention between Swiss and Ugandan officials. The Swiss foreign ministry stated on Friday that the patient did not travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak began in mid-May. Instead, the ministry believes she contracted the virus while in Uganda with her husband. This account conflicts with earlier statements from Uganda, which indicated the woman had traveled to eastern DR Congo. A Ugandan government spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the country currently has no reported cases and would publish data if that changed.

Uganda declared itself Ebola-free in August after reporting cases in May and June. However, the World Health Organization continues to investigate the source of the Nigerian infection. Catherine Smallwood, a WHO Ebola incident manager in DR Congo, told a UN briefing in Geneva that WHO staff in the Congo have no evidence the patient visited that country. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is currently examining a potential link to a patient in Kenya. Both individuals passed through Uganda's Entebbe airport on 3 October, according to Dr. Wessam Mankoula, the organization's head of emergency preparedness.

Experts remain divided on whether airport exposure is a plausible transmission route. Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist on the WHO's Ebola emergency committee, described the theory as very speculative without proof of shared space. She noted that random presence at a large airport does not meet standard epidemiological criteria for a link. Smallwood added that officials must compare the timing of airport transit with the onset of the Nigerian patient's symptoms to determine the likelihood of infection.

Nigerian health minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the case is contained and contact tracing is ongoing. He stated that authorities are working to prevent the virus from spreading to local communities. Melaku Yirga, vice-president for Africa at Prosper Global, emphasized the need for rapid cross-border information sharing. He argued that frontline health workers require immediate resources to respond effectively to the evolving situation.

The current outbreak is the largest and deadliest in DR Congo's history. It is the second largest globally, behind the 2014-16 west Africa epidemic that infected more than 28,600 people. Nearly half of the more than 9,500 people infected in the current outbreak have died.