Ebola patient, wife of a Swiss embassy employee, flown from Nigeria to Switzerland

Evacuation from Abuja

Nigeria's health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, said on X that a 42-year-old woman infected with Ebola left Abuja early on 26 October 2026 and was flown to Switzerland for treatment. She was born in Uganda and is the wife of an employee of the Swiss embassy in Abuja, who travelled with her. Pate said she was stable, conscious and able to communicate, and that her laboratory results were approaching normal values. He added that the improvement did not mean she had stopped being contagious, so strict protective measures remain necessary. Her husband has shown no symptoms. Swiss authorities had not confirmed the transfer when first contacted.

Travel history and disputed details

Nigerian authorities say the woman had been on holiday in Uganda and passed through Entebbe airport on 3 October 2026 before returning to Abuja. Her diagnosis was made on 20 October 2026, and she had been staying at a private hospital in Abuja since then. Nigeria has identified 53 contacts of the patient so far. Switzerland said in the week of 19 October 2026 that she had not travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rejecting statements from Ugandan officials. Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa CDC, told Reuters that her travel documents show she did not visit the country. Scientists are still trying to establish whether the case involves the Bundibugyo species, one of six known Ebola virus species.

Possible Kenya connection

Scientists are examining whether the Nigerian case is linked to Kenya's first case, a man who had travelled from the Congo and who also passed through Entebbe airport on 3 October 2026. Kenya has recorded nine cases in October, including two deaths. The link remains one of several scenarios under review, and no source confirms it.

Wider outbreak in Africa

In a statement on 23 October 2026, the WHO said Africa faces an Ebola epidemic that is more complex, since the virus has been detected in the west of the continent while it is also present in the east and centre. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths, with transmission still described as high and continuous. Uganda recorded 20 cases, including two deaths, but the WHO officially declared it free of Ebola in August. Nigeria released 10bn naira ($6.7m) in emergency funding for laboratory testing, protective equipment and health worker mobilisation after confirming its case. Lagos and Delta states have also stepped up screening, isolation capacity and training for frontline staff.

Confirmed cases9,704

Deaths4,687

Confirmed cases

9704 people

Deaths

4687 people

Data from the article text

Swiss treatment capacity

Since 2019, the University Hospital of Zurich and the University Hospital of Geneva have served as Switzerland's reference centres for diseases such as Ebola. Two people who contracted the virus in Africa have previously been treated in Switzerland: a Swiss anthropologist in 1995 and a Cuban doctor in 2014, who was infected on a humanitarian mission in Sierra Leone. Both survived, according to the Federal Office of Public Health. Nigeria last faced Ebola in 2014, when the West African epidemic killed more than 11,000 people between late 2013 and 2016.