The US is offering new support to Kenya and Nigeria in the wake of the African nations reporting a handful of new Ebola cases, as the virus spreads well beyond the initial site of the outbreak.
“The United States is aware of reports of a Kenyan citizen who died of Ebola in Nairobi after traveling there from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as reports of additional cases,” a State Department spokesperson told Semafor, adding that the Trump administration “stands ready to support the response in Kenya as needed.”
The US raised its travel advisory for Kenya to Level 3 earlier this week over Ebola, as a rare strain of the virus with no approved vaccine or treatment spreads beyond the center of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Kenya recorded its first-ever Ebola case on Oct. 6 and has now confirmed nine infections.
The US response in Kenya has withstood scrutiny; an American-built bio-isolation facility in Laikipia was the subject of deadly protests and court challenges in June.
“Kenyan citizens with Ebola have not used the facility nor did we receive any requests for the facility to be used for this patient,” the State Department spokesperson said.
The DRC has recorded 9,552 confirmed cases and 4,602 deaths since the outbreak was declared in May, the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record. Early tests missed the strain, delaying detection.
Along with new cases reported in Kenya, Nigeria — the most populous nation on the continent — also announced its first known case Tuesday, in a person who recently traveled from epidemic-hit areas in East Africa.
State communicated the same offer of aid for Nigeria.
“This Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak has already become the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history, affecting multiple countries across three regions of Africa,” Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya said.
— Adrian Elimian