The Ebola patient currently receiving treatment in Nigeria is a Swiss woman and the wife of a staff member of Switzerland’s embassy in Abuja, the Swiss government has confirmed.
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs disclosed this on Friday, saying the woman had recently travelled to Uganda with her husband, but neither of them had visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the current Ebola outbreak began.
Nigeria announced its first recorded case of Ebola on Tuesday after a woman who arrived in Abuja on a flight from Uganda tested positive for the virus. Authorities have identified 44 contacts linked to the case.
The patient was subsequently confirmed to have contracted the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, the strain driving the current outbreak and for which there are currently no specific vaccines or approved treatments.
In a statement on Friday, the Swiss foreign ministry said the woman had been symptomatic and had spent about a week at a private clinic in Abuja.
It said, “The Swiss woman, who is symptomatic, has been hospitalised for about a week at a private clinic in Abuja.”
The ministry said the infection was believed to have occurred during a trip to Uganda about two weeks ago.
Her husband, also a Swiss national, has been placed in isolation but has shown no symptoms, according to the statement.
“He accompanied his wife on the trip, during which she is believed to have contracted the Ebola virus. Neither individual travelled” to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ministry said.
The Swiss government said the remaining 25 staff members at its Abuja embassy — eight Swiss nationals and 17 local employees — were all in good health.
It added that, following consultations with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation, the embassy staff members did not need to be placed in isolation.
Switzerland is also considering the possible repatriation of the patient for further treatment, the ministry said.
Nigeria is now the fourth African country affected by the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, after the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Kenya.
The outbreak emerged in northeastern DR Congo in May before spreading to neighbouring Uganda, where 20 confirmed cases, including two deaths, were recorded before the outbreak was declared over in August.
According to the World Health Organisation, the epidemic had recorded more than 9,700 confirmed cases and 4,690 deaths as of October 20.
AFP