Ebola: Nigeria has no active case after patient’s evacuation

Nigeria currently has no active Ebola case after the country evacuated its index patient to Switzerland, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

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The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, said this in a post on X on Monday, shortly after Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, confirmed the patient’s evacuation from Abuja.

According to Mr Janabi, the patients were evacuated because they are both Swiss citizens. He said the patient was clinically stable after Nigerian health workers managed the acute phase of the illness. The Ebola patient in Nigeria and her contact, who is also her husband, were medically evacuated to Switzerland,” Mr Janabi said.

He said Switzerland would now take responsibility for the patient’s continued management. At the same time, the follow-up f her husband would be handled six days after Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in more than a decade.

Patient improved

Mr Pate said the patient was “clinically much improved, stable, conscious, communicating,” with her laboratory test results moving towards baseline. Still, he added that she was no longer infectious, while her husband, who accompanied her, remained asymptomatic.

The patient is the wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja. She arrived in Nigeria on 3 October after travelling from Uganda and developed symptoms a few days later.

Nigeria confirmed her infection on 20 October after laboratory testing detected the Bundibugyo virus.

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Contact tracing continues

Although the evacuation means Nigeria currently has no active Ebola cases, Mr Janabi said public health authorities would continue monitoring 52 contacts linked to the patient.

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Her husband, who is listed as contact number 53, will be followed up by Swiss authorities.

“However, vigilance remains critical,” Mr Janabi said. “Nigeria will continue the close follow-up of 52 contacts, while Switzerland will assume responsibility for the continued management of the patient and the follow-up of contact number 53, her husband.”

The NCDC had identified 53 contacts as of 24 October, including healthcare workers, domestic staff and the patient’s spouse.

Mr Janabi commended the Nigerian government, health workers, clinicians, emergency responders and other partners involved in the response, describing the successful management and evacuation as a demonstration of African public health capacity.

Nigeria confirmed the imported case amid an ongoing regional outbreak of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease, with cases also reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya.

WHO reported 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths in the DRC as of 20 October, while Kenya had recorded nine cases, including two deaths.