The woman who tested positive for Ebola in Nigeria is the wife of a Swiss diplomat stationed in Abuja, Reuters reported Thursday; Switzerland’s government said she was believed to have contracted the virus during travel in Uganda.
The 42-year-old woman, who was born in Uganda, tested positive on October 20, marking what Nigerian authorities called the country’s first confirmed Ebola case in over a decade.
Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement sent to Reuters on Thursday that the woman had spent approximately a week at a private clinic in Abuja experiencing symptoms before receiving her diagnosis.
“She is believed to have contracted the virus whilst travelling to Uganda around two weeks ago,” the ministry said.
It also stated that her husband, who travelled with her, was in isolation but had not developed 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 origin of the woman’s infection remains uncertain, as health authorities continue tracing her movements and potential exposure.
Ugandan officials said she had travelled to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo before passing through Uganda.
However, the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said they had not received verified information confirming that she visited the country.
Africa CDC official Wessam Mankoula said Nigeria and Uganda were sharing information to determine the woman’s movements and the possible source of her 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’s representative in Nigeria, Pavel Ursu, said information received by the organization indicated that the woman returned to Abuja on October 3 after staying in Uganda from September 16.
“The fact that 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 was still in hospital and that her biochemical markers were showing improvement.
WHO emergency response manager Patrick Otim said investigators were continuing to determine the source of the infection and identify the health facilities the woman visited after developing symptoms but before she was hospitalized.
Nigeria’s Ebola case is linked to an outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which was first reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May.
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals, including those who have died from the disease. Symptoms may include fever, vomiting, and diarrhea, while severe cases can be fatal.
Health authorities are working to trace the woman’s movements and identify people who may have been exposed to the virus.
