Kenya has confirmed four additional Ebola infections, including three healthcare workers who treated the country’s first patient, bringing the total number of cases to seven, health authorities said on Saturday.
The latest infections involve two male medical workers aged 29 and 35, a 32-year-old female healthcare worker and a male relative of the first patient, who died earlier this month.
Health Director-General Patrick Amoth said all four individuals were already under quarantine when they developed symptoms, allowing authorities to isolate them immediately and reduce the risk of further transmission.
Laboratory tests conducted by the National Virology Reference Laboratory and the Kenya Medical Research Institute confirmed the infections were caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
The three healthcare workers had treated the initial patient between October 3 and 4 and had been quarantined since October 9. The infected relative had been under observation since October 6.
All four patients are receiving supportive medical care, while authorities said two previously confirmed patients remained stable and were responding well to treatment.
Kenya’s Health Ministry said 128 of the 130 identified contacts, or 98.5%, had been traced and placed under quarantine. Efforts are continuing to locate the remaining two individuals.
Despite the rise in infections, officials said there was no evidence of wider community transmission and maintained that the risk to the general public remained low.
The country’s first confirmed patient had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo through Uganda before arriving in Nairobi on October 3. He died on October 5 after receiving hospital treatment.
His death marked Kenya’s first recorded Ebola case, raising concerns about the potential spread of the virus across East Africa.
The infections come amid a worsening Ebola epidemic in neighbouring Congo, where the Bundibugyo strain has caused the second-largest outbreak of the disease ever recorded.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Congo had recorded 9,277 confirmed infections and 4,478 deaths through October 14, with the eastern province of Ituri accounting for the largest share of cases.
Kenya has intensified disease surveillance, contact tracing and border monitoring but has not introduced restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings.
