Kenya confirms eighth Ebola case amid widening regional outbreak | Ebola News
Kenya Reports Eighth Ebola Case Linked to Initial Infection
Kenyan health officials confirmed the detection of an eighth Ebola case, indicating a growing outbreak in the East African nation. This announcement raises the total number of confirmed infections to eight.
Dr. Patrick Amoth, the Director-General for Health, informed Citizen TV that one of the 38 individuals tested on Sunday returned a positive result for the virus. The patient, a 49-year-old man, is not a healthcare worker and is believed to have been exposed to Kenya’s first Ebola case, identified earlier this month. He presented with fever, headache, and muscle pain.
The individual, who worked as a patient attendant responsible for cleaning utensils and linens, began to experience symptoms on Saturday. Following his symptom onset, he was quarantined and subsequently tested for Ebola, according to a source from the Ministry of Health.
On Saturday, the ministry had reported four additional cases, three of which were health workers who treated the country’s first Ebola patient. That initial case involved a man who traveled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and later died in a Nairobi hospital on October 5. The fourth case reported was a close relative of the deceased.
Kenya is on high alert due to the Ebola outbreak crossing the border from the DRC. The current outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which has no vaccine or specific treatment available.
The DRC has faced a severe outbreak, recording at least 9,400 cases since May, with over 4,500 deaths, making it the deadliest outbreak in the country’s history. The Ituri province in eastern DRC has been particularly hard hit, accounting for nearly three-quarters of confirmed cases. Reports indicate that the virus has now spread to an eighth province, North Ubangi.
In response, authorities in North Kivu province, where the World Health Organization has indicated that significant transmission is ongoing, will implement a one-week ban on entry from Ituri starting Monday. Additional measures will include limiting passenger numbers in vehicles and motorcycles as well as suspending large public gatherings.
Neighboring Uganda also reported cases earlier this year, recording 20 confirmed cases, including 15 imported from the DRC, and two deaths, before being declared Ebola-free in August.
