Swiss Ebola Patient Evacuated From Nigeria to Switzerland

A Swiss woman being treated for Ebola in Nigeria was medically evacuated to Switzerland on Monday, accompanied by her husband.

Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Pate confirmed the evacuation, stating that the woman's condition had significantly improved, and she was stable and conscious. Her husband, a Swiss diplomat in Nigeria, has not shown any symptoms.

"This does not mean she is not still infectious, hence the strict protocols in place," Pate wrote on the social media platform X. The World Health Organization's regional director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, explained that the evacuation was arranged because the couple are Swiss citizens, and Nigerian medical teams had stabilized the woman after treating her through the acute phase of the illness.

Switzerland will now assume her care and monitor her husband, while Nigeria continues to track 52 other individuals who had contact with the patient. "With the evacuation of the patient and her husband, Nigeria currently has no Ebola cases," Janabi stated, emphasizing the need for continued vigilance.

Authorities have indicated that containment measures remain in place. The woman tested positive for Ebola after returning to Abuja from Uganda. Nigerian officials have stated they are still investigating how she contracted the virus. Switzerland's foreign ministry has suggested she may have been infected during travel to Uganda with her husband, and that she had not visited Congo.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that earlier Ebola cases in Nigeria and Kenya had traveled through Uganda's Entebbe International Airport. Uganda had previously reported Ebola cases but was later declared free of the virus. Kenya has recorded nine cases, including two deaths, this month.

The spread of Ebola beyond Congo has raised concerns among health authorities about the rapid transmission of the Bundibugyo virus. As of recent reports, Congo's health ministry has documented over 9,900 cases and more than 4,800 deaths since the outbreak began in May. The WHO has characterized this as the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record, potentially on track to surpass the death toll of the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak, which caused 11,000 deaths. Nigeria was also affected by that earlier outbreak, recording 20 cases before it was declared over.