4 more Ebola cases detected in Kenya, bringing total to 7

Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. (EPA Images pic) NAIROBI: Kenya has confirmed four new Ebola cases, the health ministry said Saturday, including another relative of the first victim and three healthcare workers who treated him.

The country had not reported a single case of the contagious virus until Oct 6, after a Kenyan man who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died after returning to Kenya.

The DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in May and has since reported over 9,000 cases. The deadly disease has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.

In a statement, Kenya's ministry of health "confirms four new cases of Ebola", bringing the total to seven overall, including the deceased first case.

The ministry said the four "developed fever" were immediately isolated ahead of being tested, which returned positive.

"The new cases include a close male relative of the deceased," it said, saying the man had been in quarantine since Oct 6.

The health workers – two men aged 29 and 35 and a 32-year-old woman – had cared for the first patient and had been quarantined since October 9.

The statement reiterated that "the risk to the general public remains low", saying there was "no evidence of community transmission".

Of 130 contacts, 128 have been traced and are now in quarantine, it added.

On Friday, the ministry announced a third case, a 65-year-old female relative of the first victim, who was now receiving treatment. Another relative, a 39-year-old man, was also in quarantine, having tested positive two days earlier.

The country has never previously reported a case.

Neighbouring Uganda recorded 20 people infected, almost all of whom had travelled from the neighbouring DRC, and two deaths, before being declared Ebola-free in August.

Kenya's first victim has not been named but was referred to as a 40-year-old businessman who fell ill around a month ago.

He had been treated in the DRC before travelling overland to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and flying into Nairobi on Oct 3, where he died after receiving treatment on Oct 5.

According to Congolese health authorities, the outbreak has infected 9,066 people so far and caused 4,381 deaths since the emergence in the DRC of the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is still neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment.