The Congo outbreak just hopped a plane. Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case — and first Ebola death on Tuesday, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced, as the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo keeps spreading, ABC News reports.
The patient was a 40-year-old Kenyan man who had lived in the DRC for seven years and traveled from Buta in the country’s northwest. After falling ill about a month ago and being treated at several DRC hospitals, he went by road to Kampala, Uganda, then flew a Jambo Jet flight into Nairobi on Oct. 3. He was isolated, tested positive for Bundibugyo virus — a rare Ebola variant behind the DRC outbreak, for which there are no vaccines and no treatments, per ABC — and died Monday evening.
Here’s the chilling part: he passed through public health screening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Kenya’s health director general Dr. Patrick Amoth said medication “to lower your temperature” could mask symptoms, adding: “We believe that he knew that he was unwell.”
Now the hunt: officials have identified 28 contacts, including family and health workers, and are trying to reach 23 more passengers and four crew from his flight. “I wish to assure the public not to panic as all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease,” Duale said. The World Health Organization says it is supporting Kenya’s response.
The scale next door is brutal: as of Oct. 3, the Congo Ministry of Health counted 8,854 confirmed cases and 4,114 deaths, ABC reports.
Sources: ABC News · WHO Africa · The Star (Kenya)
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