Kenya confirms seven Ebola cases, including three health workers

Four newly confirmed patients were already in quarantine; officials say two of 130 identified contacts are still being sought.[^star]

Kenya’s health ministry announced four new cases on Saturday, bringing the total to seven, including the first patient, who died.¹
Three of the new patients are health workers who treated him in hospital; the fourth is a male relative.²
Officials say 128 of 130 identified contacts have been traced and quarantined, while two are still being sought.³

Kenya has confirmed Ebola in three health workers who treated the country’s first patient, taking the national total to seven. The health ministry said on Saturday that the other new case was a male relative of the patient, who died on 5 October.¹

The three health workers—a 29-year-old man, a 35-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman—treated the first patient in hospital on 3 and 4 October. They had been in quarantine since 9 October; the relative had been quarantined since 6 October. All four new patients developed fever and tested positive for Bundibugyo virus disease, the ministry said.²

The ministry said 128 of 130 identified contacts had been traced and placed in quarantine, with two still being sought. Contacts are being monitored for 21 days, and officials said further cases could emerge among people already in quarantine.³

The health ministry assessed the risk to the general public as low, saying there was “no evidence of community transmission”. That is the ministry’s assessment; the contact-tracing figures describe people identified so far. The first patient had travelled to Kenya from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the outbreak began, according to the World Health Organization.⁴

Kenya confirms seven Ebola cases, including three health workers

Footnotes