Kenya has confirmed an eighth Ebola case after a 49-year-old patient attendant tested positive for the Bundibugyo virus, Health Director-General Patrick Amoth said.
Amoth announced the result during an interview with Citizen TV on Sunday, October 18. He said 38 people had been tested that day and one result was positive.
The man developed fever, headache and muscle pain and has been isolated. Amoth described him as a patient attendant rather than a direct healthcare worker.
The confirmation follows four additional cases announced on Saturday, which brought Kenya’s total from three to seven. Those patients included three health workers who had attended to the first patient and a close male relative of that patient.
NaijaTrend reported that earlier four-case update here.
Kenya’s first confirmed patient had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He arrived in Nairobi on October 3 and died on October 5 while receiving treatment at Nairobi Hospital. The first case was announced on October 6.
Amoth urged the public to take the outbreak seriously and warned against misinformation. He said the authorities had prepared a response plan because of Kenya’s role as a regional hub.
Health officials are continuing to monitor exposed contacts. Capital FM reported that, as of Saturday, authorities had identified 130 contacts and traced 128 of them. Those figures predate Sunday’s eighth-case announcement.
Sources: Citizen Digital, Capital FM, Al Jazeera
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