Nigeria Says Ebola Patient Transported to Switzerland

Nigeria’s first Ebola patient this year was evacuated to Switzerland, authorities said.

The female patient and her spouse departed from Abuja for Switzerland on Oct. 26, Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said in a statement.

The woman, who recently flew into Nigeria from Uganda, has improved and is stable and conscious, according to Pate. Her spouse has shown no symptoms.

“We will provide further updates later this afternoon after the patient and her spouse [land] successfully at their destination,” Pate said. “All public health measures are continuing to ensure successful containment of the imported virus.”

The Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.

The epicenter of the Ebola outbreak is in Congo, which borders Uganda, with 9,816 confirmed cases and 4,757 confirmed deaths in the latest update from the Congolese government.

Ugandan authorities said Nigeria’s patient was recently in Congo, but Swiss officials told news outlets in a statement that she did not travel there.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization say investigations are ongoing to pinpoint where the woman went and where she contracted Ebola.

Congo and Uganda were the only African countries to report cases until recently confirmed cases in Nigeria and Kenya.

Uganda over the summer declared the country Ebola-free after the discharge of the last patient.

Uganda’s Ministry of Health said on Sunday that it identified all 60 contacts of Nigeria’s patient, and they did not show symptoms after 21 days of monitoring.

Ugandan Officials said they have imposed new restrictions, including forcing all nonessential travelers at points of entry from Congo to return to Congo, barring people who have been in Congo from landing at airports in Uganda, and requiring Ugandans who have recently been to Congo to quarantine for 21 days.

“Compliance with lawful border health measures is mandatory,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

“Anyone who deliberately evades screening, conceals information required for public health investigations, obstructs authorized health teams or breaches lawful isolation or quarantine requirements will face enforcement action, including prosecution where offenses are established.”

Officials said the index patient (the first documented or identified person in an outbreak) in Kenya was a man who had been living in Congo. That man died, as did a 65-year-old woman who was exposed to the man, according to Kenya’s Ministry of Health. Officials have confirmed seven other cases, which are being treated in isolation facilities.

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, an Ebola virus.

Genetic testing showed that the virus in Nigeria’s patient was “highly similar” to the first case in Kenya, Pate said on Oct. 23.

The patients were both at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda on Oct. 3, Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads emergency preparedness and response efforts at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in a recent briefing.

“One of the issues we are currently investigating has been some sort of interaction between the two cases at the airport,” Mankoula said.