Kenya has confirmed its first Ebola case linked to the major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a Kenyan man who travelled from Congo died in Nairobi, health authorities said on Tuesday.
The case makes Kenya the third country to record an infection connected to the outbreak in eastern Congo, which has infected more than 8,000 people and killed more than 4,000.
Health Minister Aden Duale said the patient, a Kenyan citizen who had lived in Congo for seven years, had been ill for about a month before beginning his journey to Kenya.
He travelled by road from Congo to Uganda’s capital Kampala before boarding a Jambojet flight to Nairobi on Saturday.
The man passed through health screening at Nairobi’s international airport before a relative later took him to Nairobi Hospital. He was admitted with symptoms including fever, chills and bleeding beneath the skin and was quickly placed in isolation.
He died late on Monday.
Kenya’s health ministry Director General Patrick Amoth said medication taken by the patient may have suppressed his symptoms, allowing him to pass through airport screening without being detected.
Authorities have identified 28 people who came into contact with the patient in Kenya, including relatives and healthcare workers.
Officials are also trying to trace 23 passengers and four crew members who were aboard the Jambojet flight from Kampala to Nairobi.
Jambojet, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, said it was cooperating closely with health authorities.
The patient was expected to be buried on Tuesday under strict Ebola protocols intended to prevent transmission from the body.
Duale said Kenya had remained on high alert since the Congo outbreak began and had trained nearly 5,000 health workers across the country in Ebola prevention and case management.
The World Health Organization said in August that countries sharing land borders with Congo faced a high risk from the outbreak, while the risk for other countries was considered low.
Julien Harneis, the United Nations’ senior Ebola coordinator, said he expected Kenya’s health system to be able to contain the case with a strong response.
The confirmed infection comes as Kenya also hosts a 50-bed Ebola quarantine facility built by the United States at an air force base in central Kenya for US citizens potentially exposed during the Congo outbreak.
The facility is currently empty and has so far housed seven people. Kenyan officials have said it could potentially accommodate Kenyans and other nationalities, although the US government has not confirmed that arrangement.
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, including those who have died. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, with severe cases causing internal and external bleeding.
The outbreak in Congo was officially declared in mid-May, although health officials believe transmission may have begun months earlier.
The epidemic involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus and has caused more than 4,000 deaths, according to figures cited by Reuters.
