Kenya said a man who flew from Kampala to Nairobi after travel from Congo died of Bundibugyo Ebola. Officials are following 28 contacts and tracing passengers on his flight.
Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on Tuesday after a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo died in Nairobi, Health Minister Aden Duale said.
The patient had been ill for about a month, travelled by road from Congo to Kampala and flew to Nairobi on Saturday, Reuters reported. Kenya News Agency said he arrived on Jambojet flight 8523 and passed routine screening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport before a relative took him to hospital. Samples tested positive for Bundibugyo virus at the national virology laboratory and at KEMRI.
The BBC said he died at 23:30 local time on Monday. Duale said 28 contacts in Kenya, including relatives and health workers, were being followed, and that authorities were tracing 23 passengers and four crew. Kenya News Agency said the ministry had screened 652,584 travelers since the Congo outbreak alert and had tested 267 samples.
Kenya is the third country to record a case linked to the Congo epidemic, which Reuters said has infected more than 8,000 people and killed more than 4,000. Uganda reported cases earlier in the year and was declared Ebola-free in August. There is no proven vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, Reuters said.
The patient was buried on Tuesday under infection-control protocols. No further confirmed cases in Kenya had been reported by Tuesday afternoon.
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- Health Minister Aden Duale said Kenya had stayed on high alert since the Congo outbreak began in May.
- He said contacts and fellow passengers were being traced.