The woman who tested positive for Ebola in Nigeria is the wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, with Switzerland’s government saying she likely contracted the virus during a trip to Uganda, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman tested positive on October 20, marking Nigeria’s first confirmed Ebola case in more than a decade, according to Nigerian authorities.
In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs disclosed that the woman had spent about a week receiving treatment at a private clinic in Abuja after developing symptoms before her diagnosis.
“She is believed to have contracted the virus whilst travelling to Uganda around two weeks ago,” the ministry said.
The department added that her husband, who accompanied her during the trip, had been placed in isolation but had not developed any symptoms.
“Her husband is in isolation; he has not shown any symptoms. He was travelling with his wife when she is believed to have contracted Ebola,” the statement said.
However, the exact source of the infection remains uncertain as health authorities continue investigating the woman’s movements and potential exposure to the virus.
Ugandan officials said she travelled to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) before passing through Uganda.
However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said they had not received verified information confirming that she visited the DRC.
Africa CDC official Wessam Mankoula said Nigeria and Uganda were sharing information to establish the woman’s movements and determine the likely source of the infection.
“So far, there is no validated information (that) this case traveled to DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo),” Mankoula told an online press conference on Thursday.
The WHO representative in Nigeria, Pavel Ursu, said information available to the organisation indicated that the woman returned to Abuja on October 3 after travelling to Uganda on September 16.
“The facts which we have received is that the patient returned to Abuja on October 3, being away from September 16 in Uganda,” Ursu said.
He added that the patient remained hospitalised, with her biochemical markers showing signs of improvement.
Meanwhile, WHO emergency response manager Patrick Otim said investigations were ongoing to determine the source of the infection and identify the health facilities the woman visited after developing symptoms but before her hospitalisation.
Nigeria’s case is linked to an outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which was first reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, including those who have died from the disease. Symptoms may include fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, while severe cases can be fatal.
Health authorities are continuing efforts to trace the woman’s movements and identify individuals who may have been exposed to the virus.
