Kenyan authorities have confirmed an eighth Ebola case in the country, a health ministry official said, as efforts to contain the outbreak continue.
The latest case involves a 49-year-old man who developed symptoms including fever, headaches and muscle pain, according to Health Ministry Director Patrick Amoth in an interview with Citizen TV late Sunday.
“Today we tested 38 persons, one turned positive,” Amoth said, adding that the man had been in quarantine since October 9.
The man worked as support staff at a health facility, where his duties included handling laundry. Amoth said he was likely exposed to the virus in the room where Kenya’s first Ebola patient had stayed.
Kenya reported its first case on October 6, involving a businessman in his forties who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a major Ebola outbreak has been ongoing since May.
The man travelled by road and air through Uganda before arriving in Kenya, where he died on October 5.
The seven other confirmed cases in Kenya were among relatives of the initial patient or healthcare workers who treated him. Amoth said they were all in stable condition.
Neighbouring Uganda recorded 20 cases, nearly all linked to infections imported from the DRC, and two deaths before declaring the end of its outbreak in August.
Last week, Kenyan health authorities said they had identified 130 contacts linked to the outbreak, with 128 traced and placed in quarantine.
In the DRC, the epidemic has surpassed 9,000 cases and claimed 4,381 lives, according to Congolese health authorities.
AFP
