Key takeaways:
- Kenya’s second Ebola patient is a 39-year-old close relative of the first patient, who died on 5 October.
- Officials identified 128 contacts of the first patient; by Tuesday, 113 had been found and 108 were in quarantine in Kenya.
- Kenya’s health ministry says the two cases are linked and there is no evidence of wider community spread.
Kenya has confirmed a second Ebola case, 10 days after a man who travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo died of the virus. The new patient, a 39-year-old close relative of the first, was already in quarantine when he fell ill on Tuesday, the health ministry said.
The man developed a fever, fatigue and joint pain, according to a ministry statement reported by Al Jazeera. He is receiving care at a designated treatment centre, the outlet reported.
“Both cases are linked, and there is no evidence of spread in the wider community,” the ministry said, according to the BBC. It urged people to “stay calm but vigilant” and said Kenya remained open, with no restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings. Detecting the second patient’s illness early improved his chances of recovery and reduced the risk of transmission, the ministry said.
The first patient, a 40-year-old Kenyan man, died on 5 October. He was diagnosed with Ebola shortly after being admitted to a hospital in Nairobi, the BBC reported. A relative had taken him there after picking him up at the airport. He had travelled from DR Congo through Uganda to Kenya without his illness being detected. Al Jazeera reported that he drove from DR Congo to Uganda before flying to Nairobi.
Kenyan officials identified 128 people who had come into contact with the first patient, the BBC reported. By Tuesday, 113 had been found, including 108 who were in quarantine in Kenya. Efforts continued to trace the remaining 15. Earlier, Health Minister Aden Duale said at least 57 contacts had been identified and 10 immediately quarantined as of 7 October, according to Al Jazeera.
The first patient’s journey has raised questions about border screening. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reconstructed his movements and found that he first felt unwell in DR Congo on 15 September, the BBC reported. Opportunities to detect the infection were missed during visits to medical facilities there and at airport screenings, it said. Al Jazeera reported that it was unclear how he entered Uganda despite a border closure with DR Congo in place since May because of the outbreak.
“Leave Uganda out of this conversation. We don’t have Ebola here,” Alan Kasujja, executive director of the Ugandan government’s media centre, wrote on X, according to Al Jazeera. The outlet reported that Kenya’s Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth said officials from Kenya, DR Congo, Uganda and Africa CDC were due to meet to investigate the journey.
More than 4,000 people have died in the outbreak in DR Congo, which began in May. Al Jazeera reported more than 9,000 cases and said Kenya was the fourth country to record a case linked to it. Uganda recorded 20 cases and two deaths before the World Health Organization declared it Ebola-free in August, according to Al Jazeera.
Ebola spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids. Symptoms can take two to 21 days to appear. Kenya’s health ministry urged anyone with fever, unusual tiredness, muscle or joint pain, vomiting, diarrhoea or unexplained bleeding to seek medical care promptly.
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