The Swiss foreign ministry says Nigeria’s confirmed Ebola patient may have contracted the virus during a recent trip to Uganda, where the woman travelled with her husband, a staff member of Switzerland’s embassy in Abuja.
The ministry disclosed this on Friday, October 23, while confirming that the patient is a Swiss national and the wife of a Swiss embassy employee in the Nigerian capital.
“The infection may have occurred during a trip to Uganda approximately two weeks ago,” the Swiss authorities said in a statement.
The woman, who has developed symptoms, has been receiving treatment at a private clinic in Abuja for about a week, according to the ministry.
“The Swiss woman, who is symptomatic, has been hospitalised for about a week at a private clinic in Abuja,” it said.
Her husband, who accompanied her on the trip, has been placed in isolation, although he has not displayed symptoms of the disease.
“Her husband is in isolation; he has shown no symptoms. He accompanied his wife on the trip, during which she is believed to have contracted the Ebola virus,” the statement added.
The ministry stressed that neither the patient nor her husband had travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the current Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has been concentrated.
“Neither individual travelled” to the DRC, it said.
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Switzerland’s foreign ministry also confirmed that the other 25 employees at its Abuja embassy, including eight Swiss nationals and 17 local staff, were in good health.
Following consultations with Nigeria’s health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO), the employees were not required to isolate.
The Swiss government is also considering the “potential repatriation of the patient” to Switzerland.
Nigeria announced its first confirmed Ebola case on Tuesday after a woman who had travelled from Uganda arrived in Abuja. Authorities have since identified 44 contacts for monitoring.
On Wednesday, Nigerian officials confirmed that the infection was caused by the Bundibugyo strain, which currently has no specific approved vaccine or treatment.
Nigeria is the fourth African country affected by the outbreak, following the DRC, Uganda and Kenya.
The epidemic began in northeastern DRC in May before spreading to Uganda, where 20 confirmed cases, including two deaths, were recorded before the outbreak was declared over in August.
World Health Organization figures as of October 20 put the wider epidemic at more than 9,700 confirmed cases and 4,690 deaths.