Ten people who came into contact with a man who died of Ebola in Kenya have been quarantined, health officials in the East African nation have confirmed. The patient, who travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo, died in hospital in Nairobi on Monday. This is Kenya's first-ever Ebola case, and there is growing concern about the country's screening measures.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention chief, Jean Kaseya, has told the BBC that despite being sick for a month, the patient passed through multiple cities in DR Congo, driving to Uganda and eventually flying to Kenya without his sickness being detected. Kaseya said the patient left Buta, a city in northern DR Congo, to drive to Kisangani, then took a flight to Beni, before driving to Uganda and taking a flight to Nairobi.
The Ebola virus spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit. The current outbreak in DR Congo, which began in May, has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which is relatively rare, with no approved vaccine or treatment. Kaseya said the Africa CDC was investigating the case, alongside the Congolese authorities, and a team from the organisation was due to meet the Kenyan health authorities.
Kenya's health ministry official Patrick Amoth said the patient might have passed screening after taking medications that masked his symptoms. After arriving at the airport in Kenya's capital, he was transferred by a relative to a hospital in the city where he died, and was buried on Tuesday in line with health safety guidelines. Kenyan authorities have urged people not to panic, with the health ministry assuring of heightened surveillance at airports and border crossings.
Dr Dennis Miskellah, a representative from Kenya's main doctors' union, said the Ebola case did not come as a surprise to him and most health workers. He told the BBC that he had witnessed "lapses" at various border points, including with neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania, as well as at Kenya's main airport. Miskellah questioned how the patient could have been sick for almost a month and passed unnoticed.
The health ministry says it has intensified measures to contain the spread, with a joint response involving county administrations, humanitarian partners and others. President William Ruto has said that surveillance and rapid response teams are on the ground, building on the systems that the country adopted following the outbreak in DR Congo in May. His spokesman said Kenya had the capacity to detect, isolate and manage suspected cases.
More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola in DR Congo this year, in what is the second most deadly known outbreak of the disease. Kenya has designated facilities in four main hospitals for the management of Ebola patients, including at the Nairobi Hospital, where the first Ebola patient died. The government is also considering turning a proposed Ebola treatment facility into the "first" infectious disease hospital in the region.
Key points
- Ten people linked to Kenya's first Ebola patient have been quarantined.
- The patient travelled from DR Congo through Uganda to Kenya without being detected.
- Kenya has intensified measures to contain the spread of Ebola.
