Kenya's Ebola cases rise to eight as Nairobi Hospital attendant tests positive

Kenya has confirmed its eighth Ebola case, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday. The new patient is a 49-year-old man who worked as a patient attendant at Nairobi Hospital and had been in quarantine after contact with the first patient.

Director General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth said the man, who is not a healthcare worker, developed fever, headache and muscle pain before testing positive. He was one of 38 people tested on Sunday, and the only positive result. He is now in isolation.

The count rose quickly last week. On 17 October the ministry confirmed four new cases, three of them healthcare workers and one a relative of the first patient, taking the total to seven. All were already in quarantine. The first patient, who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo through Uganda, died on 5 October. No other deaths have been reported.

Amoth said all patients have received antibody treatment and are responding well, and that more medicine arrived from Rwanda on Sunday night. The ministry said it had traced and quarantined 128 of 130 known contacts by 17 October.

The ministry has dismissed rumours of a lockdown, saying Kenya remains open with no restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings. It says the risk to the public is low and there is no evidence of spread in the community, but more cases could still appear among people already in quarantine.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a sick person or someone who has died of the disease. It does not spread through the air. The ministry asks anyone with fever, unusual tiredness, muscle pain, vomiting or diarrhoea to seek care or call its free line, 719.