Kenyan health officials say 10 people who had contact with a man who died of Ebola in Nairobi have been placed in quarantine, and teams are working to trace 57 additional contacts. Authorities described this as Kenya’s first-ever confirmed Ebola case.
Patient moved across DR Congo and Uganda undetected
Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told the BBC’s Focus on Africa that the patient had been ill for about a month and still crossed borders undetected. “We know that he left Buta [in northern DR Congo] to drive to Kisangani. And from Kisangani, he took a flight to Beni. From Beni, he drove to Uganda. And from Uganda, he took a flight to Nairobi,” Kaseya said. He asked, “What are symptoms he was presenting? Why was he not detected?”
Kenya’s health ministry official Patrick Amoth said the man might have cleared screening after taking medications that masked symptoms. After he arrived in Nairobi, a relative drove him to a hospital where he died. Officials said he was buried in line with health safety guidelines.
Border checks under scrutiny
Kaseya said Africa CDC is investigating with Congolese authorities and is due to meet Kenyan officials. He warned that “we don’t have diagnostics to test for Ebola” at border points and that checks “are just about temperature,” which can be lowered by medication.
Dr Dennis Miskellah, a representative of Kenya’s main doctors’ union, told the BBC’s Newsday program he had witnessed “lapses” at border points with Uganda and Tanzania and at Nairobi’s main airport. “How could you have been sick for almost a month… and pass unnoticed? That’s the question that most Kenyans are asking,” he said.
Uganda’s health ministry stated the traveler was in the country for less than 24 hours and that screening teams “observed he had a normal temperature at the time of departure.”
Kenya’s response and capacity
Kenyan authorities urged the public not to panic and said surveillance has been heightened at airports and border crossings. President William Ruto said surveillance and rapid-response teams are on the ground. A government spokesman said Kenya has the capacity to detect, isolate, and manage suspected cases, citing more than 650,000 travelers screened and 267 samples tested so far. Facilities in four hospitals, including Nairobi Hospital where the patient died, have been designated to manage Ebola cases.
Regional outbreak context
The BBC reports that more than 4,000 people have died from Ebola in DR Congo this year, in what it described as the second most deadly known outbreak. DR Congo’s current outbreak, declared in May, involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which the BBC notes is relatively rare and has no approved vaccine or treatment, though trials are under way. After DR Congo’s declaration in May, Uganda also reported cases and two deaths; the World Health Organization declared Uganda free of Ebola in August.
Kaseya said Kenya was “well prepared” to receive and manage the case but added that is “not the case for all other countries,” arguing a regional approach “is more important today to stop this outbreak.”
Disputed facility plan resurfaces
In June, a US plan to set up an Ebola treatment facility at a military base in Nanyuki, central Kenya, sparked public concern and was halted by the courts, according to the BBC. Health Minister Aden Duale told local TV station NTV on Wednesday that, pending the court outcome, the government is considering turning the site into the region’s “first” infectious disease hospital for outbreaks such as Ebola.
How Ebola spreads
Health agencies say Ebola spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids, including blood and vomit.
