Kenya Confirms Seven Ebola Cases in Its First Outbreak, Three Health Workers

Seven people in Kenya have contracted the Ebola virus in the country's first-ever outbreak of the disease, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, October 18. Three of those infected are health workers.

Kenya confirmed four more cases, including among the three medical workers, and local authorities are trying to contain the outbreak. According to Africa CDC, the total number of confirmed cases has risen to seven, and one person has died.

Contacts and spread

A new case was recorded in a relative of the first patient. All four new patients were already in quarantine after being identified as contacts of the first case.

Kenyan authorities have identified 130 contacts and placed 128 of them in quarantine; the search for the other two continues. According to the agency, there is currently no evidence of the infection spreading among the general population.

How the outbreak began

At the start of October, Kenya announced its first Ebola case. A Kenyan citizen infected with the Bundibugyo strain travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo through Uganda and on October 3 flew from Entebbe to Nairobi. On arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport he passed a routine medical check, which found no abnormalities.

He was later taken to a private hospital, where staff recognised the symptoms, isolated the patient and notified the authorities. The patient died several days later.

About the Bundibugyo strain

Ebola of the Bundibugyo strain has an extremely severe course and a high fatality rate that can reach 90%, according to the source. The disease passes to humans from wild animals and spreads between people through contact with the blood, secretions or other body fluids of the infected, as well as contaminated surfaces.

Symptoms include a sudden rise in temperature, marked weakness, and muscle and headache, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, impaired kidney and liver function, and internal and external bleeding. More in our health section.