NAIROBI — Kenya has confirmed its first ever case of Ebola, after a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past seven years died in Nairobi, Health Minister Aden Duale announced.
The patient, who fell ill a month ago and was treated in several hospitals in DR Congo, died days after arriving in the Kenyan capital. According to Duale, the patient boarded a flight on Saturday and underwent normal public screening at Nairobi’s main airport before being transferred by a relative to a hospital in the city.
The death marks the first time Ebola has ever been confirmed in Kenya, and comes as the current outbreak in DR Congo — the second most deadly known outbreak of the disease — continues to spread. More than 4,000 people have died from Ebola in DR Congo this year alone.
A Rare and Difficult Strain
The current outbreak in DR Congo has been caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which is relatively rare and has no approved vaccine or treatment. Four vaccines are in development, with human trials for one of them launched in July.
Duale confirmed that the Kenyan national had tested positive for the Bundibugyo species. According to the minister, the patient first travelled by road from DR Congo to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where he boarded a flight to Nairobi.
After being taken to Nairobi Hospital, the patient was transferred to an isolation facility built during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was there that he “developed fever, chills, intense fatigue and weakness, painful swallowing, muscle pain and bleeding under the skin,” Duale said.
“Doctors suspected a viral haemorrhagic fever based on his symptoms and travel history and collected samples for testing. The sample tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo virus,” the minister added.
The patient died at 23:30 local time (20:30 GMT) on Monday, and his burial is planned for later on Tuesday in line with public health safety protocols.
Contact Tracing Underway
At least 28 contacts, including family members and healthcare workers, have been identified, while health authorities are tracing a further 23 passengers and four crew members who travelled on the same flight.
The virus spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.
Regional Spread Raises Alarm
Shortly after DR Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola in May, the disease was also reported in Uganda, where two people died. However, the World Health Organization declared Uganda free of the disease in August. Since then, all known cases of the highly infectious disease had been confined to DR Congo — until now.
The WHO has recorded 4,082 deaths out of 8,463 cases in the current outbreak, making it the largest ever recorded in DR Congo, where Ebola was first discovered.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) believes the true toll could be even higher because of gaps in surveillance and testing in the war-torn country. On Monday, MSF said the virus was spreading “like a megafire,” with new hotspots emerging in North Kivu province, which borders Ituri where the virus began.
Since early September, the situation has “intensified dramatically,” with North Kivu now accounting for nearly 40% of all newly confirmed cases nationwide, MSF said.
Kenyan health authorities have yet to announce additional containment measures, but the confirmation of the country’s first Ebola case is likely to trigger heightened screening at ports of entry and increased vigilance across the region.
