Kenya has confirmed its first ever case of Ebola – a Kenyan citizen who has been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past seven years.
Health Minister Aden Duale said the patient, who fell ill a month ago, and was treated in several hospitals in DR Congo, died days after arriving in the capital, Nairobi.
Duale said the patient boarded a flight on Saturday and underwent normal public screening at the main airport in Nairobi before he was transferred by a relative to a hospital in the city.
Kenya’s health ministry says it has since stepped up surveillance at airports and border crossings.
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.
Shortly after DR Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola in May, it was also reported in Uganda, where two people died. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that county free of the disease in August.
Since then, all known cases of the highly infectious disease have been in DR Congo.
The virus spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.
The current outbreak in DR Congo has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which is relatively rare, with no approved vaccine or treatment.
There are however four vaccines in development, with human trials for one of them launched in July.
Duale confirmed that the Kenyan national had tested positive for the Bundibugyo species.
According to the minister, the patient first travelled by road from DR Congo to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where he boarded a flight to Nairobi.
Duale said that after being taken to the Nairobi Hospital, the patient was transferred to an isolation facility that was built during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was there that the patient “developed fever, chills, intense fatigue and weakness, painful swallowing, muscle pain and bleeding under the skin”.
“Doctors suspected a viral haemorrhagic fever based on his symptoms and travel history and collected samples for testing. The sample tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo virus,” Duale said.
The patient died at 23:30 (20:30 GMT) on Monday and he was buried on Tuesday in line with public health safety protocols.
At least 28 contacts, including family members and healthcare workers, have been identified, while health authorities are tracing a further 23 passengers and four crew members who travelled on the same flight.
A senior health ministry official said the patient might have passed screening at the airport because the medication he was taking masked his symptoms.
Kenya introduced tighter checks at airports and border posts after the outbreak was declared in DR Congo but these have now been further intensified.
The health minister urged Kenyans “not to panic, as all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease”.
He asked health workers to be “extra vigilant and maintain the highest infection prevention and control measures regardless of the condition being treated”.
The WHO has recorded 4,114 deaths out of 8,544 cases in the current outbreak, making it the largest ever recorded in DR Congo, where Ebola was first discovered in 1976.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) believes the current toll could be even higher because of gaps in surveillance and testing in the war-torn country.
On Monday, MSF said the virus was spreading “like a megafire”, with new hotspots emerging in North Kivu province, which borders Ituri where the virus began.
Since early September this had “intensified dramatically” with the province now accounting for nearly 40% of all newly confirmed cases nationwide, MSF said.
Eastern DR Congo has been riven by decades of conflict, with multiple rebel groups operating in the region amid ethnic tensions and fighting for political power and control of lucrative natural resources.
The crisis has led to the death and displacement of millions of people, and hampered the country’s ability to develop and maintain functional health care systems and infrastructure.
