SWISS WOMAN INFECTED WITH EBOLA

ABUJA, OCTOBER 23 /SRNA/ – A Swiss woman whose husband is a member of staff at the Swiss Embassy in Abuja is the patient who contracted Ebola in Nigeria, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said.

The couple recently traveled together to Uganda, but neither of them visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak.

"The patient's husband is in isolation and has shown no symptoms so far. He traveled with his wife during the trip on which she is believed to have contracted the virus. Neither of them went to the Congo," the statement said.

It added that the other 25 members of the embassy staff were also feeling well.

Following consultations with Nigeria's Health Ministry and the World Health Organization /WHO/, officials concluded that the other staff members did not need to be placed in isolation, the statement said.

Swiss authorities are considering the possibility of repatriating the patient.

Nigeria reported its first Ebola case earlier this week, identifying the patient as a woman who arrived in Abuja on a flight from Uganda.

All 44 contacts have been identified.

Authorities confirmed midweek that the patient had the Bundibugyo strain, which has also caused the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There is currently no specific vaccine or treatment for this strain.

The WHO said the patient developed symptoms on October 7, four days after arriving in Nigeria, and sought medical care on October 11. Test results subsequently confirmed that she had the Bundibugyo strain.

Following the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya, Nigeria has become the fourth African country affected by the Bundibugyo outbreak, which began in northeastern Congo in May.