NAIROBI, Kenya- Kenya has confirmed another Ebola case, taking the total number of positive cases to eight, Health Director-General Dr Patrick Amoth said on Sunday, October 18.
Amoth said the Ministry of Health tested 38 people and one result came back positive.
The patient is a 49-year-old man who developed a fever, high temperature, headache and muscle pain.
He is not a healthcare worker and has been isolated, Amoth said. The man was identified as a patient attendant linked to the first case.
The Health DG said the patient was being prepared to receive what he described as “compassionate treatment”, which had also been administered to the other seven patients.
He said a 67-year-old woman among them was responding well.
The treatment is being given under compassionate use; the World Health Organization (WHO) said on October 16 that there was no licensed vaccine or specific treatment for Bundibugyo Ebola, although trials were under way.
The current outbreak involves Bundibugyo virus disease, a type of Ebola named after the Ugandan district where it was first identified.
WHO says it spreads through direct contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person, or through contaminated items.
It is not spread through the air.
People with Ebola are not infectious before symptoms begin, according to WHO.
Early symptoms can include fever, tiredness, headache, muscle pain and sore throat.
They may resemble malaria or other common illnesses, making laboratory testing important. Vomiting, diarrhoea and problems affecting the kidneys or liver can develop later.
WHO says bleeding is less common and usually occurs in the later stages of illness.
Kenya’s response includes isolating confirmed patients, testing suspected cases and tracing contacts.
The Ministry had identified 130 people who had contact with the first patient, including relatives, health workers and passengers on the flight he took to Nairobi.
WHO said 127 of those contacts were in quarantine by October 16 and were receiving daily checks for 21 days.
The latest case was among people being monitored, according to reports.
The country began Ebola preparedness measures in May, when the outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
By October 6, Kenya had screened more than 652,000 travellers and tested 267 samples across five laboratories, the Ministry said.
WHO has supported surveillance, laboratory testing, contact tracing and infection prevention, and supplied protective equipment, testing kits and screening thermometers worth about US$70,000.
WHO said the two cases confirmed before October 18 were linked to the first imported case and were detected while the patients were in quarantine.
It said there was no evidence of community transmission at that time, while noting that further cases among monitored contacts remained possible.
The Ministry has urged the public to rely on official health updates as contact tracing and monitoring continue.
