Kenya confirms four new Ebola cases as Uganda begins vaccine trial

· Health · Kenya · Uganda

Kenya confirmed four new Ebola cases, bringing the total to seven, including three health workers who treated the country's first patient. The cases are the first known infections passed on inside Kenya, where the first patient arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo on October 3. In neighbouring Uganda, the town of Masaka in the south has begun a Phase 1 trial of a vaccine candidate against the Bundibugyo strain of the virus circulating in the region; there is currently no approved treatment or vaccine for that strain. Kenya's earlier cases included a 65-year-old woman who tested positive while in quarantine.

Why it matters：Local transmission in Kenya and the spread of a strain with no approved vaccine raise the risk of a wider regional outbreak.

Key points

  • Three of the new cases are health workers who treated the first patient.
  • The first patient arrived from Congo on October 3.
  • Uganda's Masaka is trialling a candidate vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain.

Sources (original reporting)

More stories from this day