NAIROBI, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Kenya reported a second case of Ebola on Wednesday, about a week after recording its first-ever infection of the viral disease when a Kenyan who had been living in Congo died in a Nairobi hospital on October 5.
The second patient, a 39-year-old man, is a close family member of the first case and was already in quarantine when he fell ill on Tuesday, the health ministry said in a statement.
The first case emerged after a Kenyan man, who had been ill in Congo about a month before travelling by road to Uganda, flew to Nairobi on October 3, where a relative drove him to the hospital.
The case has raised concerns about lapses in border screening systems in the region, with the patient able to cross the border between Congo and Uganda, which has been closed since May.
Kenya is the fourth country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in Congo, the second-largest on record globally with more than 8,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths.
Uganda reported 20 cases and two deaths earlier in the year but was declared Ebola-free in August. A doctor who returned to France in June from Congo tested positive but there was no further spread of the virus.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, whether living or dead. The disease can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
The outbreak in Congo was declared in mid-May but may have started months earlier. It is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo and Vincent Mumo Nzilani; Writing by Ammu Kannampilly; Editing by Alexander Winning)
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