Kenya Confirms Eighth Ebola Case Amid Regional Outbreak

Kenyan health authorities have reported the country’s eighth Ebola case, with officials saying the latest patient was likely exposed to Kenya’s first confirmed case.

Patrick Amoth, Kenya’s Director-General for Health, said one of 38 people tested on Sunday returned a positive result. The patient is a 49-year-old man who is not a healthcare worker and who developed fever, headache and muscle pain.

Amoth told Citizen TV that the man worked as a patient attendant, cleaning utensils and linens. A Ministry of Health source said he developed symptoms on Saturday, after which he was quarantined and tested for the virus.

Possible link to first case

Amoth said the latest patient was likely exposed to Kenya’s first Ebola patient, although the reported link has not been confirmed.

Kenya’s first patient was a man who travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Nairobi. He later died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5.

Kenya’s Ministry of Health reported four new cases on Saturday. Three of those cases were healthcare workers who had treated the country’s first patient, while the fourth was a person related to him.

Regional outbreak

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment, according to the source report.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the outbreak began in May and has been described as the deadliest in the country’s history. At least 9,400 cases and more than 4,500 deaths have been recorded, according to the report.

Ituri province in the east of the country has been identified as the epicentre and accounts for almost three-quarters of confirmed cases, according to the Congolese government’s most recent data. The government also said the virus had reached North Ubangi, the eighth province affected.

The World Health Organization said substantial transmission was continuing in North Kivu. The state-run news agency ACP reported that authorities there planned to impose a one-week ban from Monday on people entering the province from Ituri.

Other planned measures included limits on passenger numbers in cars and on motorbikes, as well as the suspension of large public gatherings.

Uganda was declared Ebola-free in August after recording 20 confirmed cases, including 15 imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and two deaths.