Kenya confirms four more Ebola cases, bringing total to seven
Kenya’s health ministry says four additional Ebola patients were diagnosed while in quarantine, with no evidence of community transmission.
Nairobi, Kenya. Kenya’s health ministry reported four additional confirmed infections with the Ebola Bundibugyo virus on Saturday, raising the country’s total to seven. Three of the newly diagnosed patients are healthcare workers who cared for the first patient; the fourth is his male relative.
First locally transmitted infections
The ministry identified the new cases as Kenya’s first known instances of transmission within the country. All four patients developed symptoms and received their diagnoses while already under quarantine, it said.
The healthcare workers were two men, aged 29 and 35, and a 32-year-old woman. They treated the initial patient on October 3 and 4 and entered quarantine on October 9, according to the ministry. His male relative had been quarantined since October 6.
The ministry also reported that the previously confirmed second and third patients remained stable and were responding favourably to supportive care.
Contact tracing and public risk
Of the 130 identified contacts, 128 had been located and quarantined, the ministry said, with work continuing to find the other two. That represents 98.5 per cent, exceeding the global benchmark of 85 per cent that the ministry said was necessary to interrupt transmission.
According to the ministry, the public continued to face a low risk because there was no evidence of transmission in the community. It said travel, trade and public gatherings remained unrestricted.
First patient travelled from Congo
The initial Kenyan patient had spent about a month ill in Congo before making an overland journey to Uganda and then taking a flight to Nairobi on October 3. He died on October 5.
His arrival prompted concerns over screening both at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and along the border between Congo and Uganda, which has remained closed since May.
The Kenyan infections are connected to Congo’s Ebola epidemic, the second largest on record, involving over 9,000 cases and over 4,000 deaths. Neither vaccines nor treatments have been approved for Ebola’s Bundibugyo strain.
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