Kenya confirms first case of Ebola

Kenya’s health authorities have confirmed the country’s first case of Ebola, after a Kenyan citizen who had been living and working in the Democratic Republic of Congo travelled back to Nairobi on Saturday carrying the virus.

Health minister Aden Duale said the patient first fell sick a month ago and had travelled by road to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, before flying back to Kenya. The patient was isolated and treated in hospital in Nairobi but died on Monday.

“Based on the presentation and history of travel, the doctors considered his case to be viral fever and collected samples for testing, which turned positive for Ebola,” Duale said.

Kenya’s first Ebola case comes as health workers in DR Congo struggle to contain the country’s worst outbreak of the virus, which flared up in the north-east province of Ituri in May.

Health authorities have so far identified 28 contacts of the Kenyan patient, including family members and health workers. They were tracing a further 23 people who travelled on the same Jambojet plane from Uganda, Duale told a press conference.

“All systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease,” he said.

Kenyan director for public health Patrick Amoth speaks about the Ebola patient

In the minister's brief, he talked about the patient having been ill for a period of one month, treated in several facilities in DR Congo, and traveled from Congo through Uganda to Kenya and uh that. When he presented here, we believe that the patient knew that he was already ill and he reached out to his relatives who transported him from the airport to the hospital directly.

Kenyan director for public health Patrick Amoth speaks about the Ebola patient © Reuters

Efforts to contain the virus in DR Congo have been complicated by the rugged terrain of the conflict-wracked region where it presented, and by the lack of an approved vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo strain responsible.

There have been a total of 8,442 confirmed cases in DR Congo and 4,080 related deaths, according to data up until October 2, which also shows the virus spreading far beyond its initial outbreak area in Ituri.

The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that the disease is spreading faster than the ability of medical workers to track and contain it, predicting that it will become the deadliest outbreak on record.

Kenya has screened more than 100,000 travellers coming into the country at air and seaports in recent months for Ebola and trained nearly 5,000 health workers on the prevention and management of the disease, Duale said, amid threats of a wider regional outbreak.

Kenya has also prepared two centres in the event that the virus spreads.

Neighbouring Uganda succeeded initially in isolating people coming from DR Congo with the disease. Past outbreaks in the region have had a chilling effect on Kenya’s tourism industry, which contributes about 10 per cent of GDP.

Map by Trixia Anne Abao