Woman treated for Ebola in Nigeria is evacuated to Switzerland

A woman being treated for Ebola in Nigeria has been medically evacuated to Switzerland, authorities say.

She is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat, based in the Nigerian capital Abuja, and is now at the Geneva University Hospital for treatment for the Bundibugyo strain.

The woman is the West African country's first Ebola case in more than a decade and authorities there continue to monitor 52 people who had been in contact with her.

Nigerian health minister Muhammad Ali Pate said her condition had improved significantly, and she was stable, conscious and able to communicate.

"This does not mean she is not still infectious, hence the strict protocols in place," Mr Pate wrote on X.

The woman's husband, who is considered a close contact, was in isolation at Zurich University Hospital.

He has shown no symptoms and left Nigeria on the same flight.

The Swiss government said: "This situation does not pose any risk to public health in Switzerland."

The woman tested positive after returning to Abuja from Uganda. Nigerian authorities say they have not yet established how she contracted the virus.

Uganda reported 20 cases in May and June but ⁠has not recorded any since. In August, the World Health Organisation ​declared that country free of the virus.

The outbreak of Ebola, which started in May in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has now been reported in four countries in east, central and west Africa. They include Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria.

The transmission means it has the widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak on the continent to date.

Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said a team of leading scientists will travel to Nigeria to help investigate how the patient caught the Bundibugyo strain.

She added that the woman's travel documents show she had not visited the DRC.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo ​strain, which has now caused nearly 10,000 cases and more than 4,800 deaths ⁠in the DRC.

Kenya has reported nine cases and two deaths, all linked to a man who had travelled from the DRC via Uganda's Entebbe airport.

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Nurse treating Ebola killed in east DRC

Meanwhile, health officials in eastern DRC say youths have killed a nurse treating Ebola patients at the general hospital in the town of Bafwasende in Tshopo province.

Attacks on health workers have targeted hospitals, vehicles and staff involved in the Ebola response - adding to the difficulty of containing the spread of the disease.

(c) Sky News 2026: Woman treated for Ebola in Nigeria is evacuated to Switzerland