Key points
- One of 38 people tested on Sunday was positive, bringing Kenya’s total to eight.
- The DRC has recorded at least 9,400 cases and more than 4,500 deaths.
- The Bundibugyo strain has no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
Kenyan health authorities have confirmed an eighth Ebola case, as the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to spread across the region.
Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth told Citizen TV that one of 38 people tested on Sunday returned a positive result. The patient is a 49-year-old man who is not a health worker.
He developed fever, headache and muscle pain on Saturday and was quarantined and tested.
“He worked as a patient attendant cleaning utensils and linens,” Amoth said, and was likely exposed to Kenya’s first case.
How Kenya’s cases connect
That first case was a man who traveled from the DRC to Nairobi and died at a Nairobi hospital on Oct. 5. On Saturday, the Health Ministry reported four new cases.
Three were health workers who treated him, and the fourth was a relative of the deceased.
A record outbreak in the DRC
The current outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment. The DRC has recorded at least 9,400 cases, including more than 4,500 deaths, in the deadliest outbreak in its history, which began in May.
Ituri province accounts for almost three quarters of confirmed cases, and the virus has now reached an eighth province, North Ubangi.
In North Kivu, authorities are banning entry from Ituri for one week from Monday. They are also limiting passengers in cars and on motorbikes and suspending large public gatherings.
Meanwhile, Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths before it was declared Ebola-free in August.
