Kenya reports second Ebola death among nine confirmed cases

Kenya has reported four more Ebola infections, bringing the total in the country to seven, according to its health ministry. The latest cases include a close contact of an earlier patient and three healthcare workers who treated that person, the Dutch news agency ANP reported, citing Reuters. [1]

Two other infections had been reported earlier in the week, both among relatives of a man who travelled to Kenya from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Ebola has heavily affected areas. Uganda lies between the two countries; the World Health Organization declared an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain there over at the end of August. [1]

There is currently no approved treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, the report said, while work is under way on a vaccine. Ebola can cause organ failure and death, and spreads through direct contact; people who have died from the disease may also remain infectious. [1]

Update

Kenya’s Ministry of Health says a second person has died of Ebola, bringing the reported toll to two among nine confirmed cases. The announcement was made on Friday, 23 October. [2]

The woman, aged 65, was the third confirmed case of Bundibugyo virus disease in Kenya, according to the ministry. She was a close family member and contact of the country’s first case, who also died. The ministry said she developed symptoms on 13 October, was admitted to an infectious disease unit that day and died while receiving treatment. [2]

The ministry said all nine cases were part of one cluster of known contacts, with no evidence of transmission in the wider community. The seven other patients were receiving treatment at two isolation facilities, it said. [2]

The World Health Organization’s latest bulletin, published on 23 October, records nine cases and one death in Kenya as of 20 October. That earlier reporting cut-off predates the ministry’s announcement of the second death. The WHO said all eight cases after the first were linked to the imported case and that there was no evidence of transmission outside the cluster. [3]