U.S. Coordinates with Kenya on Ebola Response
HEALTH SYSTEMS | U.S.-AFRICA RELATIONS
The U.S. is coordinating with Kenya as the country moves to contain its first imported case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease, after a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo died in Nairobi three days after arriving in the country.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with the Kenyan government, alongside the U.S. State Department, to support the country’s response and contact-tracing efforts, a Spokesperson for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told the Africa Bazaar on Tuesday.
The CDC is also evaluating whether additional travel-related measures are necessary based on the epidemiology of the outbreak, travel patterns, and potential exposure risks. As of Tuesday, its assessment of the risk to the U.S. public remains unchanged, the Spokesperson said in response to Africa Bazaar’s question on whether the Administration plans to expand its current Ebola travel advisories and bans.
Kenya’s imported Ebola case is the latest development in an Ebola outbreak that Africa Bazaar has been tracking since it began in the DRC in May, including its implications for East African business travel, trade and investment and the economy as governments work to keep borders open while strengthening disease surveillance and preparedness. In June, Africa Bazaar reported on efforts by the East African Community health ministers to harmonize surveillance and screening at airports, seaports and land borders as the outbreak began spreading beyond the DRC.
Kenya’s Health Ministry confirmed Tuesday that the patient, a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the DRC for seven years, died Monday night after testing positive for Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease.
According to Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Health Hon. Aden Duale, the patient fell ill about a month ago while in the DRC and was treated at several hospitals before traveling by road from the DRC to Kampala, Uganda. He then boarded Jambojet flight 8523 and arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at 1:10 p.m. Saturday, October 3. He underwent a routine public-health screening at the airport before clearing immigration. A relative and a friend picked him up from the airport and then drove him directly to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated in the emergency department before being moved to the hospital’s East Wing isolation facility.
The patient experienced fever, chills, severe fatigue and weakness, muscle pain, painful swallowing, a sore throat and bleeding under the skin at injection sites. Doctors suspected viral hemorrhagic fever based on his symptoms and travel history and ordered testings. The lab results tested positive for Ebola Bundibugyo virus at both Kenya’s National Virology Reference Laboratory and the Kenya Medical Research Institute, or KEMRI, the Cabinet Secretary told reporters on Tuesday. during briefing
Despite supportive treatment, the patient died Monday night. He was buried Tuesday under Kenya’s safe and dignified Ebola burial protocols, according to the Health Ministry.
Currently, the Kenyan authorities have identified 28 contacts, including family members and healthcare workers who attended to the patient and are also tracing 23 passengers and four crew members who were on the same flight with the now deceased patient.
The government has also made arrangements to quarantine people considered at risk of exposure.
The case comes after months of heightened surveillance in Kenya as neighboring countries-DRC and Uganda deal with the virus linked to the DRC Ebola outbreak. As of Oct. 6, Kenya had screened more than 652,000 travelers and tested 267 suspected samples through five laboratories. Only one has tested positive, the Health Cabinet Secretary said.
As past of its preparedness, the country had trained nearly 5,000 health workers in Ebola prevention and management.
The virus cross-border movement underscores a broader challenge for African governments as they push toward a greater regional trade and economic integration. As people and goods move more freely across borders, countries will also need health and surveillance systems that can detect and contain outbreaks quickly, making the resilient public health infrastructure an increasingly important part of regional integration.
That connection has been central to the continental Ebola response. In June, Africa CDC and the World Health Organization brought 13 African countries together in Kampala to strengthen cross-border preparedness, including surveillance at points of entry, information sharing, referral systems and coordination among national emergency operations centers. Kenya was among the 11 high-risks countries that participated, alongside the DRC and Uganda.
The joint continental response plan launched by Africa CDC and WHO last month also tied outbreak preparedness to stronger and more resilient health systems, focusing on surveillance, laboratory testing, infection prevention, clinical care, logistics and cross-border coordination.
The coordination has also become increasingly significant beyond Africa. In June, France confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease after a humanitarian health worker returned from the DRC. The case was detected and isolated quickly, and the patient later recovered.
Kenya is now the latest country to record an imported case. Uganda, which earlier confirmed DRC linked Ebola cases after a Congolese traveled to Uganda to seek treatment, declared its outbreak over in August after 42 days without a new confirmed case.
The WHO on Tuesday said it is supporting Kenya, the DRC and Uganda contact tracing, surveillance, screening and other response measures. The UN Health agency is not recommending restrictions on travel or trade with the three countries based on the information currently available.
