Technology and Scienceupdated 49m ago2 min read
Kenya Health Ministry Says 65-Year-Old Woman Dies From Ebola After Quarantine
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
A 65-year-old woman died in Kenya, the second Ebola death, after quarantine. She was a close relative of the first Kenyan Ebola patient who had traveled from DRC.
Explore source coverage 6 source types
Directory totals describe our source library, not outlets checked for this story.
8 outlets told this the same way.
Outlets did split on Daytona Raises $60 Million Series B At $1 Billion Valuation Led By FirstMark Growth →
Second Ebola death in Kenya
Kenya’s health ministry announced a second Ebola death, saying a 65-year-old woman, a close family member of the first victim, died after being placed in quarantine. The ministry said the woman was a "direct contact and close family member of the first case (deceased) and was under quarantine when she developed symptoms" on 13 October. The ministry added that seven other Ebola patients were receiving treatment at two isolation facilities, and it said all cases were within "one cluster, with no evidence of community spread".
Kenya’s first Ebola death was that of a man who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo and died in Nairobi after arriving there from multiple hospitals. The US warned its citizens against travelling to Kenya, while neighbouring countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia were also on alert.
Quarantine, contacts, and cases
Kenya’s Ministry of Health said the second fatality was a 65-year-old woman who developed symptoms while in quarantine and died despite medical staff efforts. The ministry said medical staff "did everything possible to save her life," and it announced it would coordinate a safe and respectful burial in consultation with the relatives. Authorities traced about 135 contacts of the first patient, and the ministry said 118 were placed in quarantine.
The ministry said eight contacts tested positive, including four healthcare workers and four close relatives, and it said some contacts who completed the 21-day quarantine period without symptoms would be released starting Saturday. The ministry also said seven remaining Ebola patients were being treated in two isolation facilities, and it said no new infections had been reported since the last case.
Cross-border risk and testing
Kenya introduced enhanced screening for travellers arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo and nine other countries it considered at high risk, and it required travellers to complete a digital surveillance form before boarding flights. Kenya also ordered enhanced public health screening of aircraft arriving from those countries, as authorities sought to prevent further imported cases. Nigeria’s health minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the country’s single confirmed case appeared to be genetically related to a strain identified earlier in Kenya, and he said there was "no evidence so far that the Kenyan patient had travelled to Nigeria".
Pate added, "We are conducting additional tests," and he said some results were negative while others were pending. The BBC said both cases were believed to have travelled through Uganda's Entebbe International Airport earlier this month, as health officials investigated whether Nigeria’s first case crossed paths with Kenya’s first patient.