Switzerland’s foreign ministry has confirmed that Nigeria’s Ebola patient is the wife of a Swiss diplomat and said she is believed to have contracted the virus while travelling in Uganda.
The woman, a 42-year-old Ugandan-born national who lives in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, tested positive for the virus on 20 October, becoming the country’s first confirmed Ebola patient in more than a decade.
The ministry informed that the woman and her husband travelled to Uganda earlier this month, contradicting statement from Uganda foreign ministry.
Ugandan officials had earlier said the woman travelled to eastern DRC for business. But the Swiss government maiantained that she had not visited the country.
Uganda said it also has no confirmed active Ebola cases, adding that the woman’s travel through the country does not prove she contracted the virus there.
The WHO, however said it was too early to determine where the woman in Nigeria became infected.
“The source of exposure is still not known. The travel history of the patient is still being pieced together,” Patrick Otim, a WHO emergency response official said.
He said investigators had struggled to obtain a complete account of her movements because opportunities to interview her were limited while she remained in hospital.
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