Ebola: Swiss Government Says Nigeria Patient Likely Contracted Virus In Uganda

The Swiss government has said the Ebola patient in Nigeria, the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, is believed to have contracted the virus while travelling in Uganda.

The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs disclosed this in an emailed statement to Reuters on Thursday, as health authorities continued investigations into the source of Nigeria’s first Ebola case in more than a decade.

Nigeria reported the case on Tuesday, becoming the fourth African country affected by an outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in mid-May and has since become the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record.

Ugandan authorities had earlier said the woman travelled to eastern Congo before transiting through Uganda. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said they had not received confirmed information that she travelled to the DRC.

The Swiss government statement said the woman had been receiving treatment at a private clinic in Abuja for about a week.

“She has been in a private clinic in Abuja for around a week with symptoms. She is believed to have contracted the virus whilst travelling to Uganda around two weeks ago,” the statement said.

It added that her husband, a Swiss diplomat, had been isolated 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.”

Uganda reported 20 Ebola cases in May and June, most of which were imported from the DRC. The WHO declared the country Ebola-free in August.

However, Ugandan government spokesperson Alan Kasujja insisted that the country had no active Ebola cases.

“That’s a fact. If we did, as has happened before, we’d be the first to say,” he told Reuters late on Thursday.

Asked whether the Ugandan government had evidence that the Nigerian patient travelled to the DRC, Kasujja said, “Like what? A passport stamp? Without infringing on the patient’s rights?”

The Africa CDC said Nigeria and Uganda were sharing information to establish the woman’s movements and identify the possible source of infection.

Wessam Mankoula, an Africa CDC official, said the agency had not received verified information that the patient travelled to the DRC.

“So far, there is no validated information (that) this case traveled to DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo),” Mankoula said during an online press conference on Thursday.

The WHO also said the information available to it did not indicate that the woman travelled outside Uganda.

“The facts which we have received is that the patient returned to Abuja on October 3, being away from September 16 in Uganda,” WHO representative to Nigeria, Pavel Ursu, told the press conference.

Ursu said Nigeria’s immediate priority was containing the infection, adding that the patient remained hospitalised and her biochemical markers were improving.

Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya had earlier told Reuters that the woman spent two weeks on holiday in Uganda.

Patrick Otim, a WHO emergency response manager, said the source of the infection remained unknown as health authorities worked to establish the patient’s travel history.

Otim said investigators were also examining the health facilities the woman visited in Abuja after developing symptoms and before she was hospitalised about 48 hours later.

Meanwhile, Kenyan health authorities said they had traced all 135 contacts linked to the country’s first Ebola case, confirmed on October 6. Eight additional cases had subsequently been reported.

Kenya’s Health Ministry Director-General, Patrick Amoth, said authorities had accounted for every contact.

“We have been able to account for them 100%,” Amoth said.

He explained that the last person traced was a Ugandan citizen who arrived in Kenya in early October on the same flight as the index patient but later left the country by road through the Namanga border post with Tanzania.

His departure through the land border delayed efforts to locate him, Amoth said.

The Africa CDC is also investigating whether the Kenyan patient may have come into contact with the woman being treated in Nigeria, as both reportedly travelled from Uganda’s Entebbe airport on the same day.

Mankoula said possible transmission between the two patients was among the scenarios being investigated.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, whether living or dead. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, while severe cases may involve internal and external bleeding.

The rare Ebola species responsible for the current outbreak has a reported fatality rate of about 50 per cent and has no approved treatment or vaccine, according to the report.

The Africa CDC said the outbreak had killed about 4,700 people across the four African countries that had reported cases.