Ebola in Kenya: Second patient dies as cases rise to nine

Kenya has recorded a second death from Ebola, the health ministry said late on Friday, as the outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to spread across Africa.

The victim, a 65-year-old woman, developed symptoms while in quarantine and was a close relative of a Kenyan man who died of the disease earlier this month, the ministry said.

‘This loss brings the number of deaths to two among the nine confirmed cases. The remaining seven patients continue to receive care in the two isolation facilities,’ it said, adding that there was no evidence of community spread in the country.

Kenya’s first case was a man who had travelled from Congo to Nairobi and died at a hospital in the capital on 5 October. Since then, authorities have traced 135 of his contacts, all of whom were placed in quarantine. The woman who died on Friday was one of his direct contacts.

The outbreak has now been reported in four African countries: Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. It has the widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak on the continent to date, stretching across eastern, central and western Africa.

On Tuesday, Nigeria became the fourth African country to confirm a case, and officials are still trying to establish how the patient contracted the disease, as she had not travelled to Congo.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory for Kenya, urging Americans to reconsider travel there because of health risks.

No vaccine or treatment

The current Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus has infected nearly 10,000 people and killed more than 4,600 in Congo alone.

So far this rare strain has no approved treatment or vaccine. The disease spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, and only those showing symptoms can transmit it. It can cause fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.

Read more:

• Ebola in Nigeria: Swiss diplomat's wife likely caught virus in Uganda, Switzerland says
• Nigeria confirms Ebola case in Abuja
• Kenya confirms second ebola case as health authorities race to contain spread

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