Kenya Records First Ebola Death on Its Soil

Kenya announced on Tuesday the recording of its first death from the Ebola virus in the country, involving a Kenyan man who had returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Health Minister Adan Doli told journalists that the man contracted the illness about a month ago and received treatment in the Democratic Republic of Congo before traveling by road to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and then flying to Nairobi on October 3.

He added that the man was tested and his infection with the virus was confirmed, noting that the man “unfortunately passed away last night at around 11:30 p.m.”

Doli continued, “I wish to reassure the public and urge them not to panic, as all systems are activated to contain the spread of the disease.”

This comes after the Democratic Republic of Congo announced its seventeenth Ebola outbreak on its territory in mid-May. The disease has claimed more than 15,000 lives in Africa over the past 50 years.

As of October 2, the World Health Organization had recorded 4,082 deaths out of 8,463 cases since the emergence of the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, a strain for which there is currently no specific vaccine or treatment.