Kenya reported its second Ebola death on Friday, October 23, after a 65-year-old woman in quarantine died, bringing the country’s total to two deaths among nine confirmed cases; seven patients remained in care, and officials said they had found no evidence of community spread.
The woman was a close family member and had direct contact with Kenya’s first patient. He was a man who died earlier this month. She developed symptoms on October 13 while she was in quarantine.
She was admitted to an infectious-disease unit that day. She received care to support her health there until she died. Kenyan authorities traced about 135 contacts of the first case.
They placed 118 of those contacts in quarantine. Eight contacts later tested positive, including four health workers and four relatives. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus and continues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Cases described as imported have also been reported in Kenya and Nigeria. Uganda was affected earlier in the outbreak. Nigeria confirmed a case on October 20 in a patient who had traveled from Uganda.
This prompted continued regional attention to checking for cases across borders and tracing contacts. In Kenya, all confirmed infections remain linked to one cluster, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry has said there is no sign of wider spread.