Kenyan health authorities have confirmed an eighth Ebola case in the country.
Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth told Citizen TV that one of 38 people tested on Sunday returned a positive result. He said the patient is a 49-year-old man who is not a healthcare worker and developed fever, headache and muscle pain.
Amoth said the man worked as a patient attendant, cleaning utensils and linens, and was likely exposed to Kenya’s first Ebola case, detected earlier this month. A Ministry of Health source said he developed symptoms on Saturday, was quarantined and tested.
On Saturday, the ministry reported four new cases. Three were health workers who treated the first patient, a man who travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Nairobi and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5. The fourth was a relative of the deceased, the ministry said on X.
Kenya has been on heightened alert as the outbreak spreads from the DRC. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment. The DRC has recorded at least 9,400 cases, including more than 4,500 deaths, in its deadliest outbreak, which began in May.
