Kenya Records Second Ebola Death as Outbreak Widens Across Africa

Kenya has recorded its second Ebola death, the country’s health ministry said late on Friday, as the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to spread across Africa. The victim was a 65-year-old woman who developed symptoms while in quarantine and was a close relative of the Kenyan man who died of Ebola earlier this month.

FAKTA: Kenya second Ebola death

• Second death: A 65-year-old woman died on Friday evening after developing symptoms during quarantine.
• Link to first case: She was a direct contact and close relative of Kenya’s first Ebola patient, a man who travelled from DR Congo to Nairobi and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5.
• Cases so far: Nine confirmed cases in Kenya, with two deaths and seven patients still receiving care in two isolation facilities.
• Contacts traced: 135 contacts have been traced and placed in quarantine.
• Community spread: The health ministry said there was no evidence of community spread in the country.
• Wider outbreak: The outbreak has now been reported in four African countries, the widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak on the continent to date.

Kenya second Ebola death: what the ministry confirmed

The health ministry said the woman who died on Friday evening was a direct contact of the index patient, Kenya’s first confirmed case. She developed symptoms while already in quarantine, and her death brings the number of deaths to two among the nine confirmed cases in the country.

The remaining seven patients continue to receive care in two isolation facilities, the ministry said. Kenyan authorities have traced 135 contacts since the first case was identified, and all of them were placed in quarantine.

The ministry added that there was no evidence of community spread in Kenya, a key point as health teams work to keep the outbreak contained to known contacts of confirmed cases.

How the outbreak reached Kenya

Kenya’s first Ebola case was identified this month in a man who travelled from DR Congo to Nairobi and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5. That case set off the contact-tracing effort that has since identified 135 contacts and nine confirmed cases.

Kenya had already reported its first Ebola case earlier in October, when the patient died after arriving from DR Congo. The second death, in a close relative of that first patient, shows the virus spreading within a known chain of contacts rather than through undetected community transmission, according to the ministry’s account.

Late on Monday, the US State Department advised Americans to reconsider travel to Kenya and raised its travel advisory level for the country because of health risks.

An outbreak across four countries

The outbreak started in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ebola has infected nearly 10,000 people and killed more than 4,600, according to Reuters. It has now been reported in four countries across 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, with officials working to establish how and where the patient, who had not travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, contracted the disease.

The rare Ebola species behind the current outbreak has no approved treatment or vaccine, Reuters reported, which makes early detection, isolation of patients and tracing of contacts the main tools available to health authorities.

What Ebola does

Ebola can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding. Only people with symptoms can transmit the virus, which is why health authorities focus on isolating patients quickly and monitoring their contacts for symptoms.

For Kenya, the coming days will test whether the quarantine and contact-tracing system holds. With seven patients still in care and 135 contacts monitored, the ministry’s assurance that there is no evidence of community spread will be watched closely by health officials across the region.