Health officials in Kenya are on high alert after a suspected case of Ebola was reported in Kericho County.
On Sunday evening, health officials said a woman, returning from the country’s border with Uganda at Malaba, exhibited suspected symptoms of the haemorrhagic fever at Kericho County Referral Hospital.
The woman was admitted on Sunday and put in isolation.
In a statement, hospital officials said there had been minimal contact with other patients by the time of being put in isolation.
The hospital has dispatched blood samples to the capital Nairobi, for further analysis.
“This patient has been placed in isolation and blood samples sent to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Nairobi for further analysis. The preliminary test results are expected to be ready within the next 12 to 24 hours,” reads part of the statement.
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 1,400 people.
An outbreak of the disease was last week reported in Uganda, with two peopled reported to have died of the disease.
Health officials in neighboring countries have been swift to deploy Ebola response measures to curb the spread.
There have not been any reported cases near Malaba, close to eastern Uganda. The outbreak in Uganda has been in the west of the country.
Ebola is often fatal and causes vomiting, diarrhea, internal and external breeding. It also impairs kidney and liver functions.
Kenya has not had an Ebola case before.
On Friday, the World Health Organisation said the outbreak does not yet warrant being declared a “public health emergency of international concern”, meaning it would require a “coordinated international response”.
