Care transferred to Switzerland
A Swiss woman treated for Ebola in Abuja was flown with her husband to Switzerland on Monday, officials cited by WTOP said. Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Pate reported that her health had markedly improved and she was alert and communicating before the transfer.
Pate said the improvement in her condition should not be taken as evidence that she could no longer transmit the virus, and public-health safeguards were applied during the evacuation. Mohamed Janabi, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, said Switzerland would continue the woman’s treatment.
Her husband, a Swiss diplomat, has not displayed symptoms, according to the WTOP report. Janabi said responsibility for monitoring him would also pass to Switzerland.
Contact monitoring continues in Nigeria
Janabi said the evacuation left Nigeria without a current Ebola case. That status does not end the public-health operation: Nigerian authorities are following 52 people who had contact with the woman, while her husband is being monitored in Switzerland. Pate said containment measures remained in place, and Africanews reported increased contact tracing and airport screening.
The woman tested positive following her return to Abuja from Uganda. Nigerian authorities had not established how she contracted the virus, according to the WTOP report. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she passed through Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport on October 3.