Kenya Confirms First Ebola Case After Man Dies In Nairobi

NAIROBI, Oct 6 (Reuters) – 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 nation to document a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in jap Congo, the second largest on document with greater than 8,000 instances. Uganda reported 20 instances and two deaths earlier within the yr however was declared Ebola-free in August.

The affected person, who had lived in Congo for seven years, had been unwell for a few month earlier than travelling by street from Congo to Uganda’s capital, Kampala, after which flying to Nairobi on Saturday, Kenya’s Health Minister Aden Duale advised a information convention.

After arriving at Nairobi’s overseas airport, he handed by way of well being screening and was later taken by a relative to Nairobi Hospital. He was admitted with fever, chills and bleeding beneath the pores and skin and was shortly positioned in isolation, Duale stated.

Health ministry Director General Patrick Amoth stated the affected person could have handed by way of airport screening as a result of treatment had masked his signs.

The affected person was attributable to be buried in a while Tuesday underneath protocols designed to stop additional unfold of the virus, Duale stated.

Health authorities have recognized 28 individuals he got here into contact with in Kenya, together with relations and healthcare employees. They are attempting to hint one other 23 passengers and 4 crew members who had been on his Jambojet flight, Duale stated.

Jambojet, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, stated it was working carefully with the authorities.

Duale stated Kenya was well-prepared to reply to Ebola instances, having educated practically 5,000 well being employees throughout the nation on prevention and administration.

“We have continued to take care of, as a rustic, a excessive degree of alert for Ebola because the outbreak started in May,” he stated.

The World Health Organization assessed in August that the chance of an Ebola outbreak was excessive for international locations sharing land borders with Congo however low for all different international locations.

“With a strong well being response – which is what my colleagues anticipate from the Kenyan authorities – this shall be managed,” Julien Harneis, the UN’s senior Ebola coordinator, advised Reuters.

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

The facility is at the moment empty and has solely housed seven individuals. Kenyan officers have stated it might obtain Kenyans and different nationalities, however the US authorities has not confirmed that.

Ebola spreads by way of direct contact with the bodily fluids of contaminated individuals, whether or not dwelling or useless. The illness could cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in extreme instances, inside and exterior bleeding.

The outbreak in Congo was declared in mid-May however could have began months earlier. Caused by the uncommon Bundibugyo pressure, it has been blamed for greater 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)