Kenya announces second Ebola death, says ‘no evidence’ of community spread
As the virus outbreak spreads from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to a number of parts of Africa, kenya has confirmed its second Ebola death.
As the virus outbreak spreads from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to a number of parts of Africa, kenya has confirmed its second Ebola death.
Article outline
- What happened
- Background
- The key numbers
- The bottom line
Key points
- The DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in May and has since documented more than 9, 000 cases and more than 4, 600 deaths.
- Kenya's first Ebola case was identified this month in a man who travelled from DRC to Kenya and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5.
- Since then, Kenyan authorities have traced 135 contacts, all of whom were placed in quarantine, with nine cases confirmed, including the two patients who died.
- Uganda had recorded 20 individuals infected, almost all of whom had travelled from DRC, and two deaths before being declared Ebola-free in August.
- On Tuesday, Nigeria became the fourth African country to report an Ebola case.
Notably, the Kenyan Ministry of Health remarked on Friday that the latest death was that of a 65-year-old woman who had developed symptoms during quarantine and was a close relative of a Kenyan man who died of Ebola earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the ministry continued that Kenya at present has seven Ebola cases receiving treatment at two isolation facilities.
All the cases are within "one cluster, with no evidence of community spread", it continued.
Notably, the DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in May and has since documented more than 9, 000 cases and more than 4, 600 deaths. The deadly disease has killed more than 15, 000 individuals in Africa over the past 50 years.
Meanwhile, the current outbreak has now been documented in four countries throughout eastern, central and western Africa, giving it the widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak on the continent to date.
On Tuesday, Nigeria became the fourth African country to report an Ebola case. Nigerian Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate remarked on Friday that an analysis demonstrated the case was closely related to the virus detected in the index case in Kenya.
Uganda confirmed on Saturday that travellers with a history of travel to DRC would not be permitted to transit through the East African nation.
In short, kenya announces second Ebola death, says 'no evidence' of community spread is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.
