Nigeria’s Ebola patient evacuated to Switzerland; 52 contacts remain under monitoring

A woman treated for Bundibugyo Ebola in Nigeria was flown to Switzerland on Monday, October 26, after her condition stabilized. The Nigerian health minister said she was conscious and communicating, but cautioned that improvement did not establish that she was no longer infectious. The 42-year-old arrived in Abuja from Uganda via Addis Ababa on October 3, developed symptoms four days later and tested positive on October 20, according to the [Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s situation report](https://ncdc.gov.ng/themes/common/files/sitreps/744b4bc76b369a13131b628b07de871b.pdf). The evacuation was confirmed by Nigeria’s health minister and the World Health Organization’s Africa director; [AP reported](https://apnews.com/article/nigeria-ebola-switzerland-patient-transfer-6390efb6d55bb43a40695425ef2317fb) that the couple arrived in Switzerland the same day. Swiss authorities said the patient is receiving specialist care at Geneva University Hospitals. Her husband, a Swiss diplomat who has shown no symptoms, is isolated at University Hospital Zurich. The Geneva authorities say the hospitals are equipped for such cases and that Switzerland’s public faces no risk. The couple were separated for care and monitoring under health protocols. Nigeria’s health minister said the country had no Ebola cases after the transfer, but its response is not over: 52 contacts remain under monitoring there. Switzerland is following the husband, the 53rd contact. The NCDC’s October 24 report listed 53 contacts, including health workers and domestic staff. A suspected case in Rivers State tested negative. Investigators have not established how the woman was infected. The patient had travelled in Uganda, and Switzerland told AP she had not visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Africa CDC says the first confirmed cases in Nigeria and Kenya both passed through Uganda’s Entebbe airport on October 3; this is a lead being investigated, not proof that the patients met or infected one another. As of October 20, the [WHO counted 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths in Congo](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON622), with nine cases in Kenya. The cross-border tracing comes as response workers face security threats in Congo, including the killing of a nurse covered in [our earlier report](https://www.mushimu.com/post/9142). ~World ~Science