NAIROBI, Oct 18 (Reuters) – Kenya has confirmed one more Ebola case, bringing the total number of infections in the country to eight, Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth said on Sunday.
“Today, 38 people were tested, and one tested positive for Ebola,” Amoth said in an interview on Kenya’s Citizen TV.
“He is a 49-year-old man who is not a healthcare worker. He developed fever, headache and muscle pain.”
Amoth said the new case was a patient attendant who cleaned utensils and linens, and he was probably exposed to Kenya’s first Ebola case, discovered earlier this month, in a man who travelled from Democratic Republic of Congo to Nairobi and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5.
The latest case developed symptoms on Saturday, was separated from other people in quarantine, and was tested for the virus with the result returning positive on Sunday, a health ministry source said.
Kenya has been on heightened alert, as a major Ebola outbreak centered in Congo has spread across borders in the region.
Congo confirmed on Sunday that its outbreak had spread to an eighth province, North Ubangi, underscoring concerns about wider regional transmission.
(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo, Silvia Aloisi and Ammu Kannampilly; Writing by Bate Felix and Maxwell Akalaaare Adombila; Editing by Silvia Aloisi and Edmund Klamann)
- Kenya has confirmed one new Ebola case, increasing the total infections in the country to eight.
- The new case is a 49-year-old man who is not a healthcare worker but a patient attendant who cleaned utensils and linens.
- The latest patient likely contracted Ebola from Kenya's first case, a man who traveled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Nairobi and died on October 5.
- The new case developed symptoms on Saturday, was quarantined, and tested positive for Ebola on Sunday.
- The Ebola outbreak in Congo has expanded to an eighth province, North Ubangi, raising concerns about regional spread.
