Preliminary Ebola Test in Kenya’s Wajir County Comes Back Negative

Kenyan authorities say preliminary laboratory results for a 20-year-old man suspected of having Ebola in Wajir County are negative. Contact tracing and medical monitoring are continuing.

Preliminary laboratory results for a 20-year-old man suspected of having Ebola in Kenya’s Wajir County have come back negative, county authorities said.

The man travelled into Kenya from the Democratic Republic of Congo through Uganda and sought medical attention at a health facility in the area. The result is preliminary and does not establish a final diagnosis.

Health officials are continuing to monitor him and will provide medical care as required, according to remarks by Wajir’s governor reported by local media. Officials are also working to identify and trace people who may have come into contact with him.

No new infections had been found so far, according to the report.

Concerns over border screening

The suspected case has also raised questions about Kenya’s border-screening procedures. The man reportedly passed through multiple airport temperature checks before seeking medical attention, exposing what the report described as lapses in the screening system.

Temperature checks alone do not establish whether a person has Ebola, and the available information does not identify the specific laboratory or test used in this case.

Regional Ebola concerns

The suspected case came amid a wider Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak was described in the report as the second-largest on record, with more than 8,000 cases reported.

A Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo reportedly died in Nairobi on Tuesday. The person’s identity was not provided.

The report said Kenya was the fourth country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The suspected Wajir case could have been Kenya’s second case, but the preliminary negative result has reduced the immediate concern while further monitoring continues.

Officials have not provided the patient’s name, exact treatment location or current medical condition. The date of his arrival in Kenya and the date of testing were also not disclosed.