Nigeria traces contacts after first Ebola case in more than a decade

Nigeria is tracing contacts after confirming its first Ebola case in more than a decade in a 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman married to a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja.

The woman tested positive on October 20 after returning to Abuja on October 3 from a trip to Uganda, according to Nigerian officials and the World Health Organization. Nigeria’s health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, said she became ill three days after returning, initially sought treatment for suspected malaria and was later admitted to another private hospital. Her condition is stable and improving.

Officials have identified 44 contacts, who are in isolation. None has developed symptoms, including the woman’s husband, who travelled with her. Pate said she had not left Abuja after returning to Nigeria. She also had a two-hour stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on her return journey.

The source of the infection remains under investigation. Uganda previously said the woman had travelled to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the current outbreak began, but the Swiss government said she had not visited the country and was believed to have contracted Ebola in Uganda. The WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said they had no verified information confirming travel to Congo.

Africa CDC is also examining whether there could be a connection to an Ebola patient in Kenya who travelled from Uganda’s Entebbe airport on October 3. A WHO emergency committee member described that possible link as speculative without evidence of meaningful contact.