A second case of Ebola has been confirmed in Kenya, but the World Health Organization (WHO) said there are no signs of an outbreak as Kenyan officials impose quarantine measures.
Kenya’s Ministry of Health said in an Oct. 14 statement that a 39-year-old man, who is Kenya’s second case, is a close family member of the first patient. The first patient died.
Health officials said the second patient was already in quarantine and being monitored when he fell ill on Tuesday.
As soon as the man developed a fever and other symptoms, he was tested. The test returned positive for Ebola.
The man was moved to a designated treatment center, and authorities expressed optimism that he would recover, given his illness was detected early. They also said that isolating him so early would limit the chances the Ebola virus was transmitted to others.
“Contract tracing and monitoring are working,” the ministry said. “Both cases are linked, and there is no evidence of spread in the wider community.”
The first patient had been living in Congo, where an Ebola outbreak has been ongoing since earlier in the year, and later died after traveling to Kenya.
The case led to 108 people being quarantined after contact with the person. Those in quarantine are undergoing daily clinical and temperature checks until 21 days have passed since their last exposure.
Five others traced as being in contact with the person live outside Kenya. Health authorities in those countries have been notified.
Fifteen others who were exposed to the person have not yet been tracked down.
Martin Chibueze, head of health emergencies for the WHO, said during a television appearance on Wednesday that there’s no evidence of an ongoing Ebola outbreak in Kenya.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X that identifying a case already in quarantine “shows that surveillance and contact tracing efforts are working.”
Congolese authorities said in a most recent update on the outbreak there that they’ve logged 9,144 confirmed cases, 2,418 recoveries, and 4,410 deaths.
Officials in Congo have been administering vaccines. Some 5,900 doses have been administered in Ituri Province, one of the main areas affected by the outbreak.