By Stephen Simon
Nigeria is continuing its Ebola containment measures despite having no known active case in the country following the evacuation of its first confirmed patient in the current outbreak to Switzerland.
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, confirmed that the Swiss woman arrived safely in Switzerland on Monday and was receiving treatment at Geneva University Hospitals. Her husband, a Swiss diplomat who has shown no symptoms, was placed in isolation at a hospital in Zurich.
The World Health Organisation said Nigeria would continue monitoring 52 contacts linked to the patient, while Swiss authorities would handle the follow-up of her husband, identified as an additional contact.
Although her condition improved considerably before the evacuation, Pate cautioned that clinical improvement did not necessarily mean the patient was no longer infectious.
The development has shifted Nigeria’s immediate focus from treating the confirmed patient to completing contact tracing, investigating suspected exposures and preventing any further transmission.
The source of the infection has not been conclusively established, leaving investigators with the task of determining how the woman contracted the virus and whether other exposures occurred.
Health authorities have urged continued vigilance, stressing that the absence of an active case does not mean surveillance can stop.
