Published on
Kenyan authorities have detected an eighth case of Ebola in the country after another person tested positive while in quarantine, a health ministry official said on Sunday.
The latest case is a 49-year-old man who had attended to the first Ebola patient. He showed symptoms including fever, high temperature, headaches and muscle pain and had been quarantined after probable exposure to the virus.
"Today we tested 38 persons; one turned positive," said Health Ministry chief Patrick Amoth, adding that the man had been in quarantine since 9 October.
Kenya reported its first-ever Ebola death on 5 October when a man who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died after returning to Kenya.
The other seven cases are relatives of the first patient or health workers who treated him; Amoth said they were in a stable condition.
The ministry said 128 contacts of the first patient remain in quarantine.
The country remains open, with no restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings, as advised by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the country is stepping up work on Ebola surveillance and community awareness.
The neighbouring Tanzania has tightened border screening and introduced mandatory health declarations and 21-day monitoring for travellers arriving from high-risk countries.
The outbreak reaches eighth province in Congo
Meanwhile, the outbreak continues to grow in the DRC and has reached an eighth province. Two new cases, including one death, have been reported over the last weekend in previously unaffected Nord-Ubangi, which borders the Central African Republic.
Nord-Ubangi lies between Sud-Ubangi and Bas-Uele, the last two provinces the disease had reached, where recurring armed violence has forced thousands to flee and seek refuge in nearby Congolese communities.
Authorities have reported 9,455 cases and 4,561 deaths so far in what has become the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history.
“We see pockets of Ebola generally going down, but unfortunately geographically it’s spreading out,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Yakub Janabi told The Associated Press.
Janabi said one of the biggest challenges has been persuading infected people to seek medical care, adding that some deaths occur in communities outside health centres.
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which no licensed vaccines or specific treatments are available, although trials are under way in the DRC.