Kenya lists 57 Ebola contacts as airport tracing widens
Kenya has listed 57 people who had contact with its first Ebola patient, and 10 are in quarantine, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. Officials are using flight lists and airport video to find more. No second case has been reported, and each contact will be followed for 21 days.
Kenya has widened its search for people exposed to the country's first Ebola patient. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said Wednesday on NTV that officials are now using flight manifests and security video from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Nairobi Hospital, Radio Generation Kenya reported.
The search now reaches past family and doctors. Investigators want to find airline crew, passengers, immigration and customs officers, cleaners, baggage handlers and guards who may have crossed paths with the man before he was isolated. "Contact tracing is not something that can be done once, so it keeps on. You widen," Duale said.
By Wednesday, the count had reached 57 contacts, up from 28 on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said. Ten have been found and placed in quarantine at the National Police Service Hospital in Nairobi, and teams are tracking down the rest. Earlier Wednesday, Duale told NTV that Nairobi Hospital had listed 23 health workers who cared for the man. Not every contact will be quarantined. Officials will judge each person's level of exposure. Everyone on the list will be followed for 21 days, the longest time the virus is known to take to cause illness.
"We do not have an outbreak; we have an imported case which is under management," Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni said Wednesday, Kenyans.co.ke reported. She said the number of contacts is expected to rise. A special screening gate for travelers from Congo and nearby countries is now open at the Nairobi airport, Duale said, Reuters reported.
The patient was a Kenyan who had lived in Congo. He traveled by road through Beni to Kampala, Uganda, on Oct. 2, then flew to Nairobi on Jambojet flight JM8523 on Oct. 3, Capital FM reported, citing the World Health Organization. He passed airport health screening, CIDRAP reported. He had fever, chills and bleeding, tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, and died the night of Oct. 5. He was buried Oct. 6 under safe burial rules.
The U.S. Embassy in Nairobi issued a health alert. It told anyone who thinks they were exposed to call a doctor before going to a clinic. It also urged travelers to keep taking malaria pills, since malaria can look like Ebola.
The backstory: Congo declared this outbreak on May 15. Its government now counts 8,544 confirmed cases and 4,114 deaths, a death rate of 48.2%, CIDRAP reported. Only about 74% of contacts there are being traced. Kenya is the fourth country to confirm a case in this outbreak, after Congo, Uganda and France, the WHO said. There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for this strain. The WHO advises against travel or trade limits on Kenya, Uganda or Congo.
What we know: Kenya has one confirmed case, who has died, and 57 listed contacts, 10 of them in quarantine.
What we don't: Whether anyone in Kenya caught the virus from him.
Where outlets agree Kenya's Health Ministry and Reuters both report that 57 contacts of the man have been listed and 10 of them are in quarantine.
Where they differ The ministry counts 10 people in quarantine, while Duale told NTV earlier Wednesday that 11 of the man's relatives were quarantined.