Kenya confirms eighth Ebola case as Congo outbreak spreads to an eighth province

Kenya has confirmed an eighth Ebola case after a 49-year-old man tested positive on Sunday, the country’s health director-general said in a television interview.

Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth told Kenya’s Citizen TV that 38 people were tested on Sunday and one returned a positive result. “Today, 38 people were tested, and one tested positive for Ebola,” he said.

The patient is not a healthcare worker but a patient attendant who cleaned utensils and linens, according to a health ministry source. He developed fever, headache and muscle pain on Saturday, was separated from others in quarantine, and his test result came back positive on Sunday. He was probably exposed to Kenya’s first Ebola case — a man who travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Nairobi and died at a Nairobi hospital on October 5.

The new case breaks a six-day lull: Kenya’s health ministry said on October 12 that no new cases had been found after 293 tests.

Also on Sunday, Congo confirmed its own outbreak had spread to an eighth province, North Ubangi, underscoring regional transmission concerns.