(The Turkish Post) – A Kenyan man who died of Ebola in Nairobi travelled through Congo and Uganda and passed airport screening without being detected, the African Union’s health agency said. The disease crossed three countries before doctors diagnosed it.
The 40-year-old businessman, who had been living and working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, died on Monday, Oct. 5, at a hospital in the Kenyan capital. His is Kenya’s first confirmed Ebola case, announced by the authorities on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
The patient was infected with the Bundibugyo virus, a rare species of Ebola that is driving the outbreak in Congo. There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for it. The virus is named after the district in western Uganda where it was first identified during an outbreak in 2007.
Ebola missed at several clinics
The man fell ill in September in Congo and was treated for nearly a month at several health facilities, where Ebola was not suspected, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
“We have multiple diagnoses that vary from one station to another,” said Wessam Mankoula, head of emergency preparedness at the agency. He first had a fever and a rash and was treated for a suspected bacterial skin infection. When he did not improve, he moved from one clinic to another.
His symptoms later included a sore throat, muscle pain and bleeding, which are signs of advanced Ebola infection.
A journey through three countries
According to Africa CDC, the man travelled by road from the northern Congolese town of Buta to Kisangani, then took a domestic flight to Beni, a city at the center of the outbreak. From there he went to Kasindi on the border and crossed into Uganda on Oct. 1.
He continued by road to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and then to Entebbe, where he boarded a commercial flight to Nairobi on Oct. 3.
At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport he went through health screening but was not flagged. Kenya’s Health Ministry said medicine he had taken temporarily masked his symptoms. He was then driven to Nairobi Hospital, where doctors isolated him and tests confirmed Ebola.
Kenya traces contacts
Kenyan officials have identified 28 contacts of the patient, including family members and health workers, and are trying to reach 23 other passengers and four crew members who were on his flight. Quarantine arrangements have been prepared for people at risk.
The man was buried under safe burial rules for Ebola, which aim to prevent infection from the body of a victim.
Africa CDC has described the Kenyan case as imported, and no further cases had been reported in Kenya by Saturday. Health officials are watching the patient’s contacts for 21 days, the longest time it can take for Ebola symptoms to appear.
Bundibugyo outbreak in Congo
The Bundibugyo outbreak began in Congo in mid-May. The World Health Organization declared it a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, its highest level of alert.
Congo has since recorded more than 8,500 cases and over 4,000 deaths, according to the country’s health ministry and Africa CDC. The disease has spread to seven provinces, mostly in the northeast of the country. In late July, WHO reported the highest weekly totals of the outbreak so far, with 567 cases and 296 deaths in a single week.
Uganda also recorded cases earlier in the outbreak, but has since declared its own outbreak over.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected person, or with objects contaminated by them. People are not contagious until they show symptoms, which is why early detection at borders and clinics is central to stopping the spread of the disease.
