{"id":2000129254,"date":"2026-10-14T19:16:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000129254"},"modified":"2026-10-14T19:16:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:16:56","slug":"kenya-confirms-second-ebola-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kenya-confirms-second-ebola-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya confirms second Ebola case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The health ministry said on Wednesday that the second patient had already been in quarantine when he developed symptoms on Tuesday, including fever, fatigue and joint pains. He was immediately isolated after falling ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Both cases are linked, and there is no evidence of spread in the wider community,” the ministry said, urging Kenyans to remain calm but vigilant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development comes as authorities continue tracing people who may have been exposed to the first patient, a Kenyan man who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man travelled by road through Uganda before flying to Nairobi on October 3. A relative picked him up from the airport and took him to hospital, where he was diagnosed with Ebola shortly after admission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His illness raised concerns about gaps in regional screening systems, as he travelled across borders without being detected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the health ministry, authorities have located 113 of the 128 people identified as contacts of the first patient. Of these, 108 are in quarantine in Kenya, while five are outside the country. Health authorities in the countries concerned have been notified, and efforts to locate the remaining 15 contacts are continuing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials are also assessing people who may have come into contact with the second patient since he developed symptoms, including healthcare workers and staff at the quarantine facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the response working as designed,” the ministry said, adding that it would share updates on the patient’s progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenya has strengthened screening measures at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, introducing a dedicated screening gate for passengers arriving from the DRC and other countries potentially linked to the outbreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current outbreak in the DRC, declared in May, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for this strain, although trials are underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people. Its incubation period ranges from two to 21 days, making contact tracing and early isolation critical to containing transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Health workers and officials stand outside an Ebola isolation facility at The Nairobi Hospital in Kenya on October 7, 2026,

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kenya has confirmed a second case of Ebola, involving a 39-year-old man who is a close family member of the country’s first patient, who died from the disease on October 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000129255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[151,99],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000129254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-editors-choice","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":2000122456,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-11.58.47-AM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 11.58.47 AM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":2000122456,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/08\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-08-14-at-11.58.47-AM.jpeg","title":"WhatsApp Image 2026-08-14 at 11.58.47 AM","mime_type":"image\/jpeg"},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000129255,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/ap_6ac81dbf766ac-1791499711.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":770,"height":513,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/ap_6ac81dbf766ac-1791499711.jpg","width":770,"height":513},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/ap_6ac81dbf766ac-1791499711.jpg","width":770,"height":513},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/ap_6ac81dbf766ac-1791499711.jpg","width":770,"height":513},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/ap_6ac81dbf766ac-1791499711.jpg","width":770,"height":513},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/10\/ap_6ac81dbf766ac-1791499711.jpg","width":770,"height":513}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000129254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000129254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000129254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000129256,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000129254\/revisions\/2000129256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000129255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000129254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000129254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000129254"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000129254"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000129254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}