Kenya confirms first Ebola case, a patient from DR Congo who has died

Mixed · 2Kenya has confirmed its first Ebola case, a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo and arrived in Nairobi on Saturday. 1 2 Mixed · 2Health Minister Aden Duale said the patient has since died; the BBC reported the death came days after arrival. 1 2 Centre · 1According to the BBC's account of Duale's briefing, the patient had lived in DR Congo for seven years, fell ill a month ago and was treated in several hospitals there. 2

Centre · 1Duale said the patient underwent normal public screening at Nairobi's main airport and was then transferred by a relative to a hospital in the city, where tests were positive for the Ebola Bundibugyo virus. 2 Centre · 1Anadolu Agency reports that the man became ill about a month before returning, was treated at several facilities in Congo, travelled by road to Uganda and flew to Nairobi on a Jambojet flight carrying 23 passengers, landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at about 1.10 pm on Saturday 3 October; relatives and friends drove him to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated immediately. 3 Centre · 1AFP quotes Duale as saying the man “regrettably passed on last night at around 1130”, that only one of the tested contacts so far had turned positive (the patient himself), and that the public should not panic because “all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease”. 4

Right · 1Duale told a press conference that 28 contacts, including family members and health workers, have been identified so far. 1 Centre · 1Officials are also tracing 23 other passengers on the flight from Uganda; the ministry's director Patrick Amoth said contacts must undergo 21 days of quarantine and be released only after testing negative, and the patient is to be buried within 24 hours under public safety protocols. 5 Right · 1DR Congo is fighting its largest-ever Ebola outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo species, declared in mid-May but possibly begun months earlier and so far resistant to containment; Reuters reports more than 8,000 cases and over 4,000 deaths. 1

Centre · 1The BBC describes it as the second most deadly known Ebola outbreak, with more than 4,000 deaths in DR Congo this year. 2 Right · 1The outbreak earlier spread to Uganda, which reported 20 cases and two deaths, before the World Health Organization declared Uganda free of the disease in August. 1 Mixed · 2Kenya is the fourth country to record a case in the current outbreak, after DR Congo, Uganda (20 cases) and France (one), and there had been no active cases outside Congo since Uganda declared its outbreak over in late August. 6 5

Mixed · 2The Independent and the Times of India call it the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on record, and say the WHO has warned it could become the deadliest; there is no licensed vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo, though trials are under way in Ituri province. 6 5 Mixed · 2Case counts differ by source: the Independent cites 4,018 deaths among 8,300 confirmed cases from Congo's health ministry, while AFP cites WHO figures of 4,082 deaths among 8,463 cases as of Friday. 6 4 Centre · 1AFP adds that Kenya had never recorded an Ebola case before, and that Kenyans reacted furiously earlier this year to plans for an Ebola facility at Laikipia Air Base, about 200km from Nairobi. 4