Ebola patient in Nigeria evacuated to Switzerland

ABUJA — A woman infected with the Ebola virus and her husband, a Swiss diplomat, were flown from Nigeria to hospitals in Switzerland on Monday, officials said, as…

ABUJA — A woman infected with the Ebola virus and her husband, a Swiss diplomat, were flown from Nigeria to hospitals in Switzerland on Monday, officials said, as Nigerian authorities continued monitoring 52 people who had been in contact with her. The Ugandan-born wife of the diplomat, based in Abuja, was being treated at Geneva University Hospitals for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has caused an outbreak that started in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Pate said the woman, the country’s first case in the current outbreak, left the capital, Abuja, early Monday with his approval. Her condition had improved significantly, and she was stable, conscious and able to communicate, he said.“This does not mean she is not still infectious, hence the strict protocols in place,” Pate wrote on X. Her husband has shown no symptoms. Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health said the couple arrived Monday on a medical evacuation flight.

The woman was being treated at Geneva University Hospital, while her husband was in isolation at Zurich University Hospital. The agency said both hospitals were equipped to care for them and that there was no risk to the Swiss public. The World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, said the evacuation was arranged because the couple are Swiss citizens and that Nigerian medical teams had stabilized the woman after treating her through the acute phase of the illness.

Nigeria will continue monitoring 52 other contacts, Janabi said.“With the evacuation of the patient and her husband, Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases,” he said, stressing that vigilance remained critical. Pate said containment measures remained in place and urged Nigerians to remain vigilant. The woman tested positive after returning to Abuja from Uganda. Nigerian authorities said Friday they had yet to establish how she contracted the virus.

Switzerland’s foreign ministry told The Associated Press that she had not visited Congo and was believed to have been infected while traveling to Uganda with her husband. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the first patients in Nigeria and Kenya had both traveled through Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport on Oct. 3. Uganda had previously reported Ebola cases but later declared itself free of the virus. Kenya has recorded nine cases, including two deaths, since confirming its first case earlier this month.