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Kenya’s health ministry confirmed the second Ebola case on Wednesday, saying a relative of the man who died two days after arriving from Congo had tested positive while in quarantine.
The ministry said the 39-year-old man was identified as a close relative of Kenya’s first Ebola case and developed symptoms on Tuesday.
The first patient, a 40-year-old Kenyan, lived in the Congo, where he fell ill and was treated at two health facilities. He traveled through three Ebola-affected provinces before leaving the country and arriving in neighboring Uganda on October 1. He flew to Kenya, where a family member picked him up at the airport and drove him to the hospital. He began receiving treatment and tested positive for Ebola on October 5. He died that day.
Health officials identified approximately 128 contacts associated with the first case, and quarantined 108 of them. Five of the contacts are outside Kenya, and authorities in these countries have been notified, according to Kenya’s Ministry of Health.
The second patient was among those in quarantine. The Ministry of Health said that early detection of the infection “improves his chances of recovery.”
The ministry said the two cases were linked and that there was “no evidence of spread in the community.”
Kenya has stepped up screening at border crossings and airports since discovering its first Ebola case and urged the public to take precautions and report suspected infections through an emergency hotline.
