Health officials across Africa are scrambling to pinpoint how the first Ebola patient in [Nigeria](https://www.nigeria.gov.ng) in more than ten years became infected, after the virus reached a fourth country in the region. The case involves the Ugandan‑born wife of a Swiss diplomat stationed in Abuja, and authorities are racing to determine the source of her infection.
The Swiss government confirmed on Friday that the woman had not travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was first detected in mid‑May before spreading to Uganda, Kenya and now Nigeria. According to the [Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)](https://www.eda.admin.ch), she likely contracted Ebola while accompanying her husband on a two‑week holiday in Uganda, a nation the [World Health Organization (WHO)](https://www.who.int) declared Ebola‑free in August.
Key facts:
- The outbreak now affects four countries across eastern, central and western Africa, marking the widest geographic spread of any Ebola episode on the continent.
- Nigerian authorities tested the patient for Ebola 13 days after she fell ill in Abuja.
- Ugandan officials say she spent time in eastern Congo before transiting through Uganda, though the WHO and Africa's health agency have not verified this route.
- A Kenyan patient, the continent's first confirmed case, also departed Entebbe airport on the same day in early October and died two days later in Nairobi.
- Virologist Marion Koopmans, a member of the WHO Ebola emergency committee, warned that linking the two cases without concrete evidence is speculative.
**What is the possible link between the Nigerian and Kenyan cases?**
One theory under investigation suggests the Nigerian patient may have been infected by the same source that infected Kenya's first case, as both travelers left Entebbe airport on October 3. However, experts stress that Ebola spreads only through direct contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated objects, not merely by sharing an airport.
"I think that is very speculative unless there is evidence of sharing the same space in a manner that could explain that," said Marion Koopmans. She added that random presence at a large airport does not constitute a supported epidemiological link.
**What does the WHO say about the coincidence?**
The WHO's Kenya representative, Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo, described the simultaneous departures as possibly coincidental. She noted that none of the contacts on the Kenyan patient’s flight or airport staff have shown infections.
**Has Uganda reported any new cases?**
Uganda recorded 20 Ebola cases in May and June, most imported from Congo, but has not detected a case since June. Government spokesperson Alan Kasujja told Reuters that any new cases would be made public, and he was unavailable for comment on Friday.
Overall, the Ebola strain driving the current outbreak has infected nearly 10,000 people and caused over 4,600 deaths in Congo. The disease presents with fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe instances, internal and external bleeding. Transmission occurs only from symptomatic individuals, and there is currently no approved treatment or vaccine for this rare Ebola species.