Kenya has confirmed its first Ebola case, with the country's Health Minister, Aden Duale, announcing that a Kenyan citizen who had recently returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo via Uganda had died in Nairobi. The patient, who had lived in Congo for seven years, had been ill for about a month before travelling by road from Congo to Uganda's capital, Kampala, and then flying to Nairobi on Saturday.
The Kenyan patient had passed through health screening at Nairobi's international airport and was later taken by a relative to Nairobi Hospital, where he was admitted with fever, chills and bleeding beneath the skin. He was quickly placed in isolation and died late on Monday. Eight of his family members and 21 healthcare workers who attended to him have been quarantined and are being monitored, according to Kenyan President William Ruto's office.
The patient was buried under protocols designed to prevent further spread of the virus, Ruto's office said. Health authorities are trying to trace 23 passengers and four crew members who were on his Jambojet flight, Duale said. The health minister said Kenya had trained nearly 5,000 health workers across the country on prevention and management.
Kenya is the fourth country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo, the second largest on record with more than 8,000 cases. Uganda reported 20 cases and two deaths earlier in the year but was declared Ebola-free in August. A doctor who returned to France in June from Congo tested positive but there was no further spread of the virus.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said in a statement that it was immediately sending a high-level team to Kenya to provide support, adding that the case "underscores the importance of sustained preparedness across the region". World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the WHO was supporting the Kenyan and Ugandan governments.
The incident raised questions about measures meant to prevent the spread of the virus across borders. Kenya's health ministry director-general, Patrick Amoth, said the patient may have passed through airport screening because medication had masked his symptoms. Uganda's health ministry said screening teams observed he had a normal temperature at Entebbe airport.
The US government built a 50-bed Ebola quarantine camp for US citizens on an air force base in central Kenya after the outbreak was declared in Congo. The facility is currently empty and has only housed seven people. Kenyan officials have said it could receive Kenyans and other nationalities, but the US government has not confirmed that.
Key points
- The patient, a Kenyan citizen who had lived in Congo for seven years, had recently travelled from Democratic Republic of Congo via Uganda.
- Health authorities have isolated 28 close contacts and are tracing 23 airline passengers for monitoring.
- The Africa CDC is sending a high-level team to Kenya to provide support and the WHO is supporting the Kenyan and Ugandan governments.
