Kenya confirms first Ebola case after traveller from DRC dies

On October 6, Kenya announced its first documented Ebola case: a Kenyan national who had spent time living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, travelled back via Uganda, was found to have the Bundibugyo strain and later died in Nairobi. Health authorities identified 28 contacts and began tracing other people from the flight into Kenya.³⁴⁵⁸

Infographic

Enlarge

Patient isolated in Nairobi

The patient had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo for seven years and arrived in Kenya on October 3 after travelling through Uganda. He had been ill for about a month and received treatment at several hospitals in Congo before travelling by road to Kampala and then flying to Nairobi, according to accounts released by Kenyan authorities.¹³⁸⁹

Once in Nairobi, he was brought to Nairobi Hospital and placed in an emergency-room isolation area before being transferred to the hospital's East Wing isolation unit. Doctors suspected a viral haemorrhagic fever because of his symptoms and travel history. Samples later tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease, and the patient died despite supportive treatment, the Health Ministry said.³⁸⁹

Contacts and flight tracing

Officials identified 28 people who had contact with the patient, including relatives and healthcare workers. Authorities were preparing quarantine arrangements, while Patrick Amoth, a Kenyan health official, said the contacts would remain isolated for 21 days. The government also launched efforts to find the 23 passengers and four crew members aboard the Kampala-to-Nairobi flight.¹²³⁴

Health Minister Aden Duale said systems had been activated to limit transmission and asked the public not to panic. Kenya had already been screening travellers and testing samples as part of heightened Ebola surveillance before confirming the positive result.⁴⁸

Outbreak centred in Congo

The Kenyan case is linked to the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, described by several reports as the country’s largest Ebola outbreak. The outbreak has produced in excess of 8,000 reported infections and 4,000 fatalities. The World Health Organization recorded 4,082 deaths among 8,463 cases since the Bundibugyo species emerged, according to the BBC.³⁴⁵¹⁰

The outbreak was declared in mid-May and has spread beyond Congo. Kenya became the fourth country to record a case during the current outbreak. Uganda reported 20 cases and two deaths before the World Health Organization declared it free of Ebola in August.¹²³⁴

Vaccine and treatment trials were under way in Congo’s Ituri province. The Associated Press reported that more than 250 people had joined a trial of a drug intended to prevent illness among people exposed to the Bundibugyo virus, while weak contact tracing was complicating enrolment and containment. Reports said no vaccine or treatment had been approved for this Ebola species.¹²³⁶

How Ebola spreads

People can contract Ebola by coming into direct contact with fluids from an infected individual who is alive or has died. It can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhoea; severe cases may involve internal or external bleeding. Duale said the Kenyan patient experienced fever, chills, fatigue, weakness, muscle pain, painful swallowing and bleeding beneath the skin.¹³⁴⁵

Médecins Sans Frontières said on October 1 that an unnamed staff member working on the Ebola response in Congo had also tested positive for Bundibugyo virus disease. The organisation said the worker was being medically evacuated under strict protocols to a designated hospital in the Netherlands.¹⁰