Kenya has recorded a second Ebola case, about a week after confirming the first in its history. The first patient was a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), entered Kenya and died two days later at a hospital in Nairobi.
According to a statement from Kenya's Ministry of Health on Wednesday, the second patient is a 39-year-old man and a close family member of the first case. He fell ill on Tuesday and was isolated before developing symptoms of fever, fatigue and joint pain.
Concerns over border controls
Last week's case raised concerns about gaps in screening systems in the region, after the patient drove from the DRC to Uganda and then flew from there to Nairobi. With the border between the DRC and Uganda closed since May because of the outbreak, it is unclear how the patient was able to enter Uganda.
Alan Kasujja, executive director of the Ugandan government's media centre, questioned how Kenya allowed the man to enter through the airport. On X, he wrote: "Leave Uganda out of this story. We don't have Ebola here."
Asked how the patient travelled through three countries undetected, Kenya's Director-General of Health Patrick Amoth said last week that a meeting had been planned with officials from the DRC, Uganda and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to investigate the matter.
Response stepped up
Kenya has tightened its national response since recording the first case. Health Minister Aden Duale said on 7 October that Kenya had traced all contacts of the patient, logging at least 57 people, of whom 10 were immediately quarantined.
Kenya is the fourth country to record a case linked to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC — the world's second-largest outbreak, with more than 9,000 infections and more than 4,000 deaths. Uganda previously reported 20 infections and two deaths earlier this year, but was declared Ebola-free in August. A doctor who returned to France from the DRC in June tested positive, but the virus did not spread further.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, whether alive or dead. It can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
Kenya's Ministry of Health said the second patient is being treated at a specialised treatment centre and that it will continue to update information on the patient's condition.
