Kenya's government confirmed on October 17 four additional patients positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, raising the country's total caseload to seven.
In an announcement posted on X, Kenya's Ministry of Health said three of the new cases are health workers who treated the country's first Ebola patient. The fourth is a relative of that same patient, who died of the disease. The ministry said the relative had been isolated since October 6.
The development was announced a day after Kenya confirmed three cases. The patient identified on October 16 was described by the Ministry of Health as "a direct contact and close relative of the first and second cases."
Kenya's cases are linked to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 9,000 infections and over 4,300 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak was officially declared in May.
Kenya's first patient died on October 5 after contracting the disease in the DRC about a month earlier and flying to Nairobi on October 3. These are the first infections recorded inside Kenya.
Of the 130 people who came into contact with the first patient, the Ministry of Health said 128 — 98.5 percent — had been placed in isolation, above the global benchmark of 85 percent needed to break the chain of transmission.
The ministry said it had traced and isolated nearly all contacts of the first patient, and that there was no evidence yet that the virus is spreading in the community.
Kenya responded quickly by stepping up screening and setting up a hotline for anyone who suspects they may have been in contact with an Ebola patient. Still, some experts tracking the response have questioned how the first patient was able to pass through health screening on returning to Kenya and come into contact with so many people.
Ebola is highly infectious and spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, such as blood and vomit, or with contaminated materials and surfaces such as bedding and clothing.
The main strain circulating in this outbreak is Bundibugyo, for which there is currently no vaccine or specific treatment, complicating efforts to bring the outbreak under control. Research is under way to develop one or more vaccines against the strain, with some already in early-stage human trials.
