Kenya's Ebola Count Reaches Eight After Four Cases Saturday and a Patient Attendant Sunday

Kenya's Ebola count reached eight on Sunday, Oct. 18, when a 49-year-old patient attendant tested positive while in quarantine.

The Health Ministry reported four new cases on Saturday, Oct. 17. Three were health workers who treated Kenya's first patient. The fourth was a relative of that patient, according to the ministry's post on X.

On Sunday, Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth told Citizen TV that one of 38 people tested that day came back positive. "He is a 49-year-old man who is not a healthcare worker," Amoth said. The man developed fever, headache and muscle pain.

Who the latest patient is

Amoth said the man worked as a patient attendant, cleaning utensils and linens, and was probably exposed to the first patient. A health ministry source said he developed symptoms on Saturday and was separated from others in quarantine. His test came back positive Sunday.

The first patient was a 40-year-old Kenyan who had lived in Congo for seven years. He traveled through Uganda, arrived in Kenya on Oct. 3, was driven to Nairobi Hospital by a relative, and died Oct. 5.

Three of his close relatives are among those infected, along with three health workers and now the attendant. Amoth said the other six patients are stable after receiving supportive treatment.

The contact list

About 130 contacts, including health workers, were listed after the Oct. 5 death. According to the Associated Press, 128 remain in quarantine. Amoth said people in quarantine are being tested after developing symptoms.

The infections among health workers and a hospital attendant show the virus moved through the care setting around the first patient. Kenya's first case also exposed gaps in screening at border points, AP reported.

On Oct. 6, Health Minister Aden Duale told the public the situation was under control. "I wish to reassure the public not to panic, as all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease," he said. Eight confirmed cases is the record since that statement.

Kenya has since strengthened screening and established an emergency hotline for anyone who suspects they may have been in contact with an Ebola patient or develops symptoms. It has also designated one gate at Nairobi's main airport for flights from 10 countries identified as being at the center of the outbreak. Neighboring Tanzania has tightened border screening and introduced mandatory health declarations and 21-day monitoring for travelers from high-risk countries.

Congo's outbreak keeps widening

The virus is the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment.

Congo has recorded at least 9,400 cases, including more than 4,500 deaths, since May, in the deadliest outbreak in the country's history. Ituri province in the east accounts for almost three quarters of confirmed cases, according to the government's most recent data.

On Sunday, Congo announced the virus had reached an eighth province, North Ubangi.

In North Kivu, where the World Health Organization says substantial transmission continues, authorities are introducing a one-week ban starting Monday on people entering the province from Ituri, according to state news agency ACP. Other measures include restrictions on passenger numbers in cars and on motorbikes and suspension of large public gatherings.

What comes next

At the start of the outbreak in Kenya, Amoth said Ebola's typical incubation period is two to 21 days, so contacts would be isolated for 21 days, and anyone who tests negative at the end of that period would be released.

The attendant case is the sharpest open question. He tested positive from inside quarantine, but his work put him in contact with linens and utensils used by the first patient. Kenya's response now turns on whether further positives keep appearing within the contact list or turn up outside it.