NAIROBI — Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus after a patient who travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through Uganda tested positive in Nairobi.

Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale confirmed the case on Tuesday, October 6, saying the patient, a Kenyan national, had lived and worked in the DRC for seven years before travelling to Kenya.

The patient travelled by road from the DRC to Kampala, where he later boarded a Jambojet flight to Nairobi on October 3.

He arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at about 1 p.m. before seeking medical attention at Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated and tested for the virus.

The patient subsequently died while receiving supportive treatment.

Kenyan health authorities have launched contact-tracing efforts following the confirmation, with family members, healthcare workers and other people who may have come into contact with the patient being monitored.

Authorities are also tracing passengers and crew members who travelled on the same flight from Kampala to Nairobi.

The case comes weeks after Uganda was declared free of Ebola Bundibugyo virus following an outbreak that recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths.

The latest development has renewed attention on cross-border disease surveillance in East Africa, particularly along the highly mobile DRC-Uganda-Kenya corridor.

The movement of the infected traveller through Kampala before reaching Nairobi is likely to place additional emphasis on passenger tracing and health surveillance in Uganda and Kenya.

Kenyan authorities have urged the public to remain calm while health teams strengthen surveillance, contact tracing and other response measures.

The Bundibugyo virus is a strain of Ebola virus disease that can spread through contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person or someone who has died from the disease.

The confirmation in Kenya underscores the continuing regional public-health risks posed by cross-border movement, even after Uganda’s outbreak was brought under control.