Kenya has recorded its first case of Ebola after the virus was diagnosed in a man who had arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government announced on Tuesday.
Congo has suffered a severe outbreak of Ebola, the second-largest on record, after cases began spreading, as early as January. More than 4,000 people have died of Ebola in the country since May, according to official figures.
The case in Kenya, found in a man who died on Monday in a private hospital in the capital, raised concern of a cross-border spread, though public health officials said that single cases could quickly be contained as long as the right measures were followed.
The man, a Kenyan citizen who had lived in Congo for seven years, became ill a month ago and had been treated at hospitals in Congo, the Kenyan cabinet secretary for health, Aden Duale, told a news conference. The authorities did not name the man.
The man had traveled by road to Uganda and then took a flight to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, on Saturday, Mr. Duale said.
After passing through health and immigration controls at the airport, the man was driven directly by a relative and friend in a private vehicle to a hospital in Nairobi “where he was quickly isolated in a separate room,” Mr. Duale noted. Doctors identified Ebola symptoms and, given that he had arrived from Congo, the man was tested and found positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, Mr. Duale added. The man was later transferred to an isolation unit.
“The patient was given supportive treatment” but regrettably died, Mr. Duale said, adding that the man would be buried later on Tuesday in accordance with Ebola protocols.
Kenya has introduced travel regulations intended to keep the virus out. Travelers from Congo must fill in an online questionnaire about their health status and potential exposure. It was not immediately clear how the man had passed health controls at the Nairobi airport or how he had crossed into Uganda, since the Ugandan government closed the border with Congo in May.
The Kenyan authorities said they were monitoring passengers who flew with the man or otherwise had contact with him.
Ebola controls have become contentious in Kenya, particularly after accusations that President William Ruto had bowed to U.S. interests by allowing the construction of an Ebola quarantine facility for Americans at an air base in central Kenya.
Hundreds of Kenyans marched through the streets of the town closest to the air base in June to protest the facility. The police used tear gas to disperse crowds, and at least three protesters were shot and killed, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission. The police did not comment.
The Congo outbreak, first discovered in the eastern region of Ituri, has become the largest in the country’s history. More than 8,500 people have tested positive for the virus, according to government data. Uganda has also recorded 20 cases and three deaths, largely in people arriving from Congo, the Ugandan authorities said, but the virus there was quickly contained and the World Health Organization declared the Ugandan outbreak over in August.
Officials in France said in June that a French doctor who had been treating Ebola patients in Congo had returned to his home country and tested positive. He recovered after receiving hospital treatment.
Brian O. Otieno contributed reporting from Nairobi.
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