Ebola patient in Nigeria confirmed as wife of Swiss diplomat

Switzerland’s foreign ministry has confirmed that the woman who tested positive for Ebola in Nigeria is the wife of a Swiss diplomat.

The 42-year-old Ugandan-born national tested positive for the virus on 20 October, becoming the country’s first confirmed Ebola patient in more than a decade.

According to the Swiss foreign ministry, the woman and her partner both travelled to Uganda earlier this month. Her husband is currently in isolation but has not developed any symptoms.

The ministry told the BBC that all 25 staff at its embassy in Nigeria were in good health and did not need to isolate.

The ministry said the woman had spent about a week at a private clinic in Abuja with symptoms before her diagnosis.

It believes she contracted the virus while travelling in Uganda, although health authorities have yet to establish the source of her infection.

Uganda borders the Democratic Republic of Congo, where some 4,600 have died in the country’s most deadly outbreak of Ebola. Two people died in Uganda shortly after the outbreak began in May, but it has been declared free of Ebola since August.

The ministry said the decision not to isolate the embassy’s eight Swiss and 17 local employees was taken in consultation with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).

It added that the embassy remained open and operational, with health and safety measures in place.

The woman is receiving treatment in isolation and is showing signs of improvement, according to the WHO.