Nigeria's first confirmed Ebola patient in more than a decade has been evacuated to Switzerland after her condition improved, as African health authorities intensify investigations into how she contracted the virus.
Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate confirmed on Monday, October 26, that the patient departed Nigeria aboard a medical evacuation flight. He said she was stable, conscious and communicating, with laboratory results approaching normal levels.
Her husband, a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja who has shown no symptoms, accompanied her on the flight.
The patient, a Ugandan-born woman, was diagnosed with the Bundibugyo species of Ebola after returning to Nigeria from Uganda earlier this month. Her infection marked the arrival of an outbreak in West Africa that had already affected the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Kenya.
Although her clinical improvement represents an encouraging development, investigators have yet to establish where she became infected.
Swiss authorities have said the woman did not travel to Congo, where the outbreak began in May. That account differs from earlier statements by Ugandan officials.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said a team of leading Ebola scientists would travel to Nigeria to help investigate the source of the infection.
The investigation is examining possible links between the Nigerian case and infections reported elsewhere in the region.
According to Reuters, the outbreak has caused nearly 10,000 infections and more than 4,800 deaths in Congo. No approved vaccine or treatment is currently available specifically for the Bundibugyo species.
Nigeria's health authorities have been tracing and monitoring people who may have been exposed to the patient. Officials previously said they had found no evidence of transmission into the wider community.
The medical evacuation represents a significant change in the patient's condition and care arrangements, but it does not establish that the outbreak has been contained.
For public-health authorities, determining the infection's origin remains essential to identifying possible transmission routes and preventing further cases.
