Kenya confirms first Ebola case imported from Congo after man dies in Nairobi

NAIROBI, Oct 6 — Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on Tuesday after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo died ​in Nairobi.

Kenya is the third country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Congo, the second largest on record with more than 8,000 cases. Uganda reported 20 cases and two deaths earlier ‌in the year but was declared Ebola-free in August.

The patient, who had lived in Congo for seven years, had been ill for about a month before travelling ⁠by road from Congo to Uganda's capital, Kampala, and ​then flying to Nairobi on Saturday, Kenya's Health Minister Aden Duale ⁠told a news conference.

After arriving at Nairobi's international airport, he passed through health screening and was later taken by a ‌relative to Nairobi Hospital. He was ‌admitted with fever, chills and bleeding beneath the skin and was quickly placed in isolation, Duale ⁠said.

He died late on Monday.

Health ministry Director General Patrick Amoth said the patient ⁠may have passed through airport screening because medication had masked his symptoms.

PATIENT TO BE BURIED ON TUESDAY

The patient was due to be buried later on Tuesday under protocols designed to prevent further spread of the virus, Duale said.

Health authorities have identified 28 people he came into contact with in Kenya, including relatives and healthcare workers. They are trying to trace another 23 passengers and four crew members who were on his Jambojet flight, Duale said.

Jambojet, ‌a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, said it was working closely with the authorities.

Duale said ​Kenya was well-prepared to respond to Ebola cases, having trained nearly 5,000 health workers across the country on prevention and management.

"We have continued to maintain, as a country, a high level of alert for Ebola since the outbreak began in May," he said.

The World Health Organization assessed in August that the risk of an Ebola outbreak was high for countries sharing land borders with Congo but low for all other countries.

"With a solid health response – which is what my colleagues expect from the Kenyan government – this will be managed," Julien Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola coordinator, told ​Reuters.

KENYA HOSTS US EBOLA QUARANTINE FACILITY

After the outbreak was declared in Congo, the United States built a 50-bed Ebola quarantine camp for US citizens ‌on an air force ‌base in central Kenya.

The ⁠facility is currently empty and has only housed seven people. Kenyan officials have said it could receive Kenyans and other nationalities, but the US government has not confirmed that.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, whether living or dead. The disease can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.

The outbreak in Congo was ‌declared in mid-May but may have ​started months earlier. Caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain, it has ‌been blamed for more than 4,000 ⁠deaths.

(Reporting by Vincent Mumo ​Nzilani and Edwin Okoth in Nairobi. Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva. Writing by Aaron Ross. Editing by Alexander Winning, Mark Potter ​and Susan Fenton)

Related topics