Kenya confirms first Ebola death after traveller arrives from DRC

Kenya has confirmed its first Ebola case and death after a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo travelled to Nairobi, the health ministry and World Health Organization said. The patient tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain and died on Monday night after being isolated in the capital. The patient had lived in the DRC for seven years and became ill there about a month ago, according to reports from the BBC and The Guardian.

He travelled overland to Kampala, Uganda, before boarding a flight to Nairobi on October 3. After arriving, a relative and a friend took him from the airport to a Nairobi hospital. Doctors suspected viral haemorrhagic fever because of his symptoms and travel history.

The patient was later transferred to an isolation facility built during the Covid-19 pandemic. Kenya’s National Virology Reference Laboratory and the Kenya Medical Research Institute confirmed the Bundibugyo virus, according to Premium Times. The patient died at about 11.30 p.m.

on October 5, or 20.30 GMT, and was buried on Tuesday under safe and dignified burial procedures. The reports differ slightly on the timing of some stages of his treatment, but agree that he was isolated after reaching Nairobi and that the death was Kenya’s first from Ebola. Authorities have listed 28 contacts, including relatives and health workers.

They are also tracing 23 passengers and four crew members who travelled on the same flight. The Guardian reported that one test among the identified contacts had returned positive only for the deceased patient at the time of the minister’s statement. A Kenyan health official said medication may have masked the patient’s symptoms during airport screening.

The health ministry has since intensified surveillance at airports and border crossings. Health Minister Aden Duale urged the public not to panic, saying systems were in place to limit transmission. The case is linked to a wider outbreak in the DRC.

Premium Times, citing WHO, reported 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths as of September 23, while the BBC cited 8,544 cases and 4,114 deaths. The differing totals reflect different reporting dates and estimates in the supplied accounts. The outbreak involves Bundibugyo virus, for which the BBC reported there are no approved vaccines or treatments, although vaccine candidates have been trialled.

WHO said Kenya has screened more than 652,000 incoming travellers, tested 267 suspected samples and trained about 5,000 health workers. The DRC outbreak has spread across seven provinces, with North Kivu becoming a growing focus. Médecins Sans Frontières said the province accounted for nearly 40% of newly confirmed cases, up from 24% at the end of August, and described the situation as “like fighting a megafire”.

Conflict, mistrust and limited health resources have complicated the response in eastern DRC. Uganda, where many cases were imported from the DRC, was declared free of the disease in August. Kenya’s authorities are now monitoring possible exposure from the Nairobi flight while strengthening measures against further spread.