Mpox: Second case confirmed in Busia

By Peter Ochieng

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has recorded the second case of Mpox disease in the country.

Cabinet Secretary (CS) Debrah Mlongo Barasa in a statement on Friday said the patient, an adult male truck driver, was identified at the Malaba One Stop Border Post in Busia County.

He showed symptoms after travelling from the outbreak epicentre, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"The Ministry wishes to inform the public of a second laboratory-confirmed case of the disease in the country; an adult male truck driver who presented to the Port Health screening desk at the Malaba One Stop Border Post- Busia County with salient symptoms of the disease and a history of travel to the epicentre of the outbreak in DRC," said the CS.

The patient, she said, has been isolated and is under active management in one of our health facilities in Busia County. A total of 42 samples have been submitted to laboratories for Mpox disease testing, out of which 40 samples have tested negative for the disease.

438 travellers have so far been screened at various Ports of entry across the country. Kenya’s health facilities, the CS noted, are well equipped to manage the disease.

"The ministry emphasises that our health facilities are adequately staffed and well-equipped to diagnose and manage this disease and therefore its identification should not be a cause for alarm," she said. The first case of the disease in the country was confirmed on July 31, 2024.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Mpox or monkeypox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus that can spread between people and occasionally from the environment to people via things and surfaces that have been touched by a person with mpox.

Common symptoms of mpox include a rash which may last for 2–4 weeks. This may start with, or be followed by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen glands (lymph nodes).

Avoiding close contact with anyone who has mpox, especially sexual contact and cleaning your hands frequently with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub, are some ways of protecting yourself against mpox.

Many years of research on therapeutics for smallpox have led to development of products that may also be useful for treating mpox. An antiviral that was developed to treat smallpox (tecovirimat) was approved in January 2022 by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of mpox under exceptional circumstances.