Swiss ministry says diplomat's wife caught Ebola in Uganda
Nigeria has confirmed 9,500 cases in the current outbreak as officials debate where the latest patient was infected.
By Fatima Laurent ·
Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in over a decade this week, identifying the patient as the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat stationed in Abuja. The Swiss foreign ministry stated on Friday that the woman did not travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Instead, officials said she likely contracted the virus while traveling with her husband in Uganda.
This account conflicts with earlier reports from Uganda. Those officials initially stated that the woman traveled to eastern DR Congo, where the outbreak began in mid-May. A Ugandan government spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the country had no active cases. The spokesperson said Uganda would publicize any new infections if they existed.
Health agencies are now investigating whether the patient was infected at Entebbe airport in Uganda. Dr Wessam Mankoula of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention noted that both this patient and a known Ebola case in Kenya passed through the airport on 3 October. Catherine Smallwood, a WHO Ebola incident manager, said a link to the Kenyan case is possible but unproven. Officials must compare the timing of the airport visit with the onset of the Nigerian patient's symptoms to determine the source.
Experts remain skeptical of the airport theory. Marion Koopmans, a member of the WHO Ebola emergency committee, described the idea as very speculative. She argued that simply being present at a large airport is not a supported epidemiological link without evidence of shared space.
Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the case is contained and contact tracing is ongoing. He stated, We are trying to contain it so it doesn't go out to the communities. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved treatment or vaccine exists. First announced on 15 May, the epidemic has infected more than 9,500 people and killed nearly half of them.
This is the largest outbreak in DR Congo's history. It ranks as the second largest globally, following the 2014-16 west Africa epidemic. That earlier outbreak infected more than 28,600 people and killed more than 11,000. The current crisis has spread to four African countries: DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria.
Source: The Guardian
