Kenyan patient suspected of Ebola infection tests negative

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Preliminary lab results ease fears of a second case in Kenya, after the country reported its first-ever case this week. Preliminary laboratory results from a Kenyan patient who was suspected of contracting the Ebola virus have come back negative. Fears of a second case of Ebola in the East African country were allayed on Thursday after the governor of Wajir County, where the patient is being treated, revealed the test results.

“I am pleased to report that the preliminary laboratory results indicate that the sample is NEGATIVE for Ebola Virus Disease,” the Wajir county governor said in a statement. The suspected patient is a 20-year-old man with a travel history from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through Uganda to Kenya. The other Kenyan patient who tested positive for the virus and subsequently died had travelled the same route.

The Details

Kenya had reported its first-ever Ebola case on Tuesday after a citizen who became sick in the DRC died in Nairobi. The deadly strain of the Ebola virus has spread widely, starting in the DRC earlier this year. The DRC officially declared an outbreak in May.

Kenya is the fourth country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in the DRC, the second-largest on record. The ongoing outbreak in the eastern DRC has killed at least 4,205 people out of more than 8,700 reported cases. The outbreak spread across the border to Uganda, which had about 20 cases before being declared Ebola-free in July.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.