Ghana strengthens Ebola surveillance amid reported cases in Kenya, Nigeria

The Swiss foreign ministry has confirmed that a woman who tested positive for Ebola in Nigeria is the wife of a Swiss diplomat. The 42-year-old Ugandan-born woman, who resides in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, was diagnosed with the virus on October 20th. This marks Nigeria's first Ebola case in over a decade. Meanwhile, her husband is currently isolated but has not shown any symptoms.

All 25 staff members at the Swiss embassy in Nigeria are reported to be healthy and do not require isolation. The woman had reportedly spent a week at a private clinic in Abuja exhibiting symptoms before her diagnosis. Health authorities believe she contracted the virus during her travels in Uganda, though the exact source of her infection remains unclear.

Uganda shares a border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), which has been experiencing the world's deadliest Ebola outbreak. Two individuals died in Uganda shortly after the outbreak began in May, but the country declared itself Ebola-free in August. The Swiss foreign ministry decided not to isolate its staff, including the eight Swiss employees and 17 local employees, in consultation with Nigeria's Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The woman is currently receiving treatment in isolation and is showing signs of improvement. She returned to Nigeria on October 3rd after spending around two-and-a-half weeks in Uganda. Health officials are investigating whether she may have come into contact with a Kenyan man who died from Ebola and had traveled through Uganda's main airport on the same day as the woman.

The Kenya-based Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is examining the possibility of shared equipment or contact between the two individuals. However, no direct link has been established between the two cases. The WHO is still struggling to determine the exact source of the woman's infection and is conducting genomic sequencing to establish any potential links to other cases.