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Kenya Reports Third Ebola Case
Confirmed
In Short: The DRC has recorded 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths as of September 23, with the most affected province being Ituri, where 6,734 cases and 3,177 deaths have been reported.
Kenya's Health Ministry announced on Friday that a 65-year-old woman has tested positive for Ebola, marking the country's third confirmed case.
The patient, a primary contact and close relative of the first two cases, has been in quarantine since October 6, according to the ministry.
The latest case is linked to the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is the second-largest on record globally with over 9,000 cases and more than 4,300 deaths since May.
The ministry stated that the woman was diagnosed early and is receiving supportive care, which improves her chances of recovery.
Kenya's first Ebola case was confirmed on October 6, when a 40-year-old man died in Nairobi after returning from the DRC.
The second case, a 39-year-old relative of the first victim, remains stable and is in isolation.
Health officials have identified 128 people who had been in contact with the first patient; 108 are in quarantine, five have left Kenya, and 15 remain untracked.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the epidemic is 'far from over' and could surpass the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people.
The DRC has recorded 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths as of September 23, with the most affected province being Ituri, where 6,734 cases and 3,177 deaths have been reported.
The ministry urged the public to stay calm but vigilant, as early detection had improved the chances of recovery and limited the spread of the virus.
The vaccine used for Ebola is built on the same platform as the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which has been given to millions of people worldwide, including in Uganda.
Health officials are rushing to contain the cases linked to the deadliest outbreak on record in the DRC, with international donors having disbursed about $962 million to organizations implementing Ebola response activities in the DRC rather than to the government.
Background
Kenya confirmed its first Ebola death on Tuesday, reporting that a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the DRC for seven years died after traveling from Uganda to Nairobi by road and air.
Kenya's health secretary confirmed the country's first Ebola death, an imported case from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
What's confirmed
- The latest confirmed case – a 65-year-old woman – was a “primary contact and a close relative of the first and second cases”, Kenya’s Health Ministry said in a statement on Friday, adding that the patient has been in quarantine since October 6.
- Kenya has recorded its third case of the Bundibugyo virus disease – a strain of Ebola that has killed thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – 10 days after reporting its first case and death in Nairobi.
- Questions remain over Ebola patient who travelled across three nations undetected The 40-year-old Kenyan man who died on 5 October was diagnosed with Ebola shortly after being admitted to hospital in the capital, Nairobi.
- The country had not reported a single case of the contagious virus until last week, after a Kenyan man who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died after returning to Kenya.
- Kenya has confirmed a second Ebola case in a 39-year-old man who was already in quarantine as a close family member of the country's first patient, the Ministry of Health said on October 14.
- Uganda reported about 20 cases and two deaths earlier this year, but its health authorities declared the country free of the disease in August.
What's still developing
- "All those broken pillars, there's no clear responsibility or chain of command, whether its the Ministry of Health or the 47 county governments who are semi-automous."
- Quarantined contacts in Kenya receive daily clinical and temperature checks for 21 days from their last possible exposure.
- NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan citizen who had been living in Congo before returning to Nairobi over the weekend became Kenya’s first confirmed case of Ebola and the country’s first death from the disease in the fast-moving outbreak, authorities said Tuesday, sparking urgent contact-tracing efforts to try to contain the spread of the virus.
- Another 2,269 people had recovered, placing the crude case fatality ratio at 48.2 percent.
- The patient, who had lived in the DRC for seven years, had been ill for about a month before travelling by road from the DRC to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and then flying to Nairobi on Saturday, Aden Duale, Kenya’s health secretary, told a news conference on Tuesday.
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- “While the circumstances of this reported case remain unconfirmed, plague is a serious bacterial disease that is treatable with antibiotics, particularly when recognized and treated early,” the CDC said.
- Arrangements for a safe and dignified burial are underway in line with Ebola burial protocols.