What to know about Kenya’s first Ebola case and how officials are responding

Kenya’s first Ebola case , a patient who travelled for weeks by road and air through three countries without being detected until he arrived in Nairobi, has raised questions about border control and how to trace the virus across countries.

The patient, a Kenyan man, had been living in Congo for seven years and started feeling ill a month ago. He had traveled by road to Uganda before boarding a flight to the Kenyan capital on Saturday. There, he tested positive for the Ebola virus in a hospital and died Monday.

The Africa CDC Director-General, Jean Kaseya, told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday that all stakeholders need to ask themselves how one case could have driven and flown to so many places without anyone noticing.

“We need to ensure that at point of entry, we have a strong surveillance system in place,” he said.

Ebola is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing.

The Kenyan man drove for hours by road within Congo and across the border into Uganda. He boarded a local flight while in Congo, and it is unclear if he used any other forms of public transport.

Authorities have looked at the flight manifest of the other flight he took from Kampala, Uganda, to Nairobi, and passengers and crew onboard have been added to the contact list.

They’re also looking to trace workers who cleaned the plane after it landed, as well as passengers who traveled on the same plane subsequently.

Health Minister Aden Duale told journalists on Wednesday that contact tracing was ongoing and that the number of contacts had risen to 57, with 10 already quarantined.

“Even the people who cleaned that aircraft after it landed on Saturday, they are part of the people we are tracing. The immigration and the customs officials who served that patient will also be part of the contact tracing,” he said.

Africa CDC’s Kaseya acknowledged it is a challenge. He said that the Kenyan man had not come up in existing contact lists in Congo.

“Before saying that the outbreak is under control, you need to ensure that you have a contact list where all cases are coming from,” he said.

It’s also unclear how the patient was able to cross into Uganda, which has closed its border with Congo because of the Ebola outbreak.

Alan Kasujja, executive director of the Ugandan government’s media center, dismissed the question, saying only that journalists should instead ask Kenya how the man was able to bypass surveillance at its airport.

“Leave Uganda out of this conversation. We don’t have Ebola here,” he wrote on X.

Two of the man’s journeys were by air, while the rest were by road, covering long distances and passing through various towns and cities. On arrival in Nairobi, the patient underwent port health screening but his symptoms were not detected. He then boarded a private vehicle to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated and later tested positive for Ebola.

When asked how the patient was able to travel through three countries undetected, Kenya’s Director-General for Health, Patrick Amoth, said on Wednesday that a meeting was scheduled with officials from Congo and Uganda and the Africa CDC to investigate what transpired during the patient’s journey.

Kenya’s Health Ministry has heightened surveillance at border entry points and created an Ebola hotline for citizens to report symptoms related to Ebola.

The country has also designated five health facilities with a total of 241 isolation beds to manage patients, and is working to increase this capacity.

The ministry said the country has enough supplies, including personal protective equipment, and has mobilized resources since the outbreak started in May in Congo.

The ministry added that it had designated a specific gate at the country’s main airport for passengers travelling from 10 countries located within the outbreak’s epicenter.

肯尼亚首例埃博拉病例，患者在抵达内罗毕之前，曾历经数周的陆路和空路穿越三个国家，却始终未被发现。这引发了人们对边境管制以及如何跨国追踪病毒的疑问。

这名患者是一名肯尼亚男子，在刚果生活了七年，一个月前开始感到不适。他先是乘车前往乌干达，然后于周六搭乘飞机前往肯尼亚首都。抵达肯尼亚后，他在医院被确诊感染埃博拉病毒，并于周一去世。

非洲疾控中心主任让·卡塞亚周二在接受美联社采访时表示，所有利益相关者都需要扪心自问，一个病例怎么可能在无人察觉的情况下开车和乘飞机到达这么多地方。

他说：“我们需要确保在入境点建立起强大的监控系统。”

埃博拉病毒具有高度传染性，可通过接触呕吐物、血液或精液等体液，以及接触受污染的表面和材料（如床上用品和衣物）在人群中传播。

这名肯尼亚男子在刚果境内驾车数小时，然后越过边境进入乌干达。他在刚果境内搭乘当地航班，目前尚不清楚他是否使用过其他公共交通工具。

当局已查看了他从乌干达坎帕拉飞往内罗毕的另一架航班的乘客名单，并将机上乘客和机组人员添加到联系人名单中。

他们还在寻找飞机着陆后负责清洁飞机的工作人员，以及随后乘坐同一架飞机的乘客。

卫生部长阿登·杜阿莱周三告诉记者，接触者追踪工作仍在进行中，接触者人数已上升至 57 人，其中 10 人已被隔离。

他说：“就连周六飞机降落后负责清洁飞机的人员，也都在我们追踪的范围内。为那位患者提供服务的移民局和海关官员也将参与接触者追踪。”

非洲疾控中心的卡塞亚承认这是一个挑战。他说，这名肯尼亚男子并未出现在刚果现有的密切接触者名单中。

他说：“在宣布疫情得到控制之前，你需要确保你掌握所有病例的接触者名单。”

目前还不清楚这名患者是如何进入乌干达的，由于埃博拉疫情爆发，乌干达已经关闭了与刚果的边境。

乌干达政府媒体中心执行主任艾伦·卡苏贾驳斥了这个问题，只说记者们应该去问肯尼亚，这名男子是如何绕过机场监控的。

“别把乌干达扯进来。我们这里没有埃博拉，”他在X上写道。

该男子两次乘飞机，其余行程均为陆路，路途遥远，途经多个城镇。抵达内罗毕后，他接受了港口卫生筛查，但未发现任何症状。随后，他乘坐私人车辆前往内罗毕医院，在那里被隔离，之后埃博拉病毒检测呈阳性。

当被问及该患者是如何在不被发现的情况下穿越三个国家时，肯尼亚卫生总干事帕特里克·阿莫斯周三表示，已安排与刚果、乌干达和非洲疾控中心的官员举行会议，调查该患者在旅途中发生的事情。

肯尼亚卫生部加强了边境入境点的监控，并设立了埃博拉热线，供公民报告与埃博拉相关的症状。

该国还指定了五家医疗机构，共设有 241 张隔离床位，用于收治病人，并正在努力提高收治能力。

该部表示，该国物资充足，包括个人防护装备，并且自5月份刚果爆发疫情以来，已经调动了资源。

该部还补充说，已在该国主要机场指定了一个专门的登机口，供来自疫情中心地带的 10 个国家的旅客使用。