Ebola patient repatriated from Nigeria admitted to Geneva University Hospitals

A Swiss citizen infected with the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus was repatriated from Nigeria on an aircraft of Rega, the Swiss air rescue service, and was admitted on Monday 26 October to Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), according to a statement from the Department of Health and Mobility of the canton of Geneva. According to that statement, her condition is stable and she will remain in isolation for as long as her situation requires.

Her husband, also a Swiss citizen and considered a close contact, is in isolation at Zurich University Hospital, according to the canton. Reuters, cited by ThePrint, identifies him as a Swiss diplomat posted in Abuja and describes the patient as born in Uganda; according to the newspaper Le Matin, the husband has no symptoms.

The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) considers the risk to the Swiss population to be very low, according to the cantonal statement, which adds that both hospitals have been reference centres in Switzerland for this type of disease since 2019 and that staff and other patients are protected. Nigeria's Health Minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, said the patient was “stable, conscious and communicating”, according to Reuters.

It has not been established where she was infected. According to Reuters, she had spent two weeks on holiday in Uganda before returning to Abuja, and Africa CDC maintains that her travel documents show she did not visit Congo, which contradicts what some Ugandan officials have said. It was the first Ebola case in Nigeria in more than a decade.

There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain, which has caused almost 10,000 cases and more than 4,800 deaths in Congo, according to Reuters. Kenya has reported nine cases and two deaths.