NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed the country’s first imported Ebola case from Congo.
Health Minister Aden Duale said a Kenyan citizen who arrived in the country on Saturday from Congo via Uganda had been isolated and treated at Nairobi Hospital. The patient tested positive for the Ebola virus after developing symptoms associated with hemorrhagic fever.
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Kenya Health minister Aden Duale speaks to journalists as he announces the first case of Ebola virus in Kenya, Nairobi, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
A security guard wears a mask at the Ministry of Health after Kenya announced the first case of Ebola, in Nairobi, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Kenya Health minister Aden Duale speaks to journalists as he announces the first case of Ebola virus in Kenya, Nairobi, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
FILE -An aerial view of the slum of Kibera with the Nairobi skyline in the background, Kenya, Jan. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Riccardo Gangale, File)
The patient died late Monday while receiving treatment.
Health authorities have placed the country on high alert and are monitoring for possible additional cases.
Duale said 28 contacts, including family members and health workers who cared for the patients, had been identified. Another 23 passengers who traveled on the same flight from Uganda were being traced.
The contacts will remain in isolation for 21 days and will be released after testing negative for the virus, the ministry’s director, Patrick Amoth, said.
The patient will be buried within 24 hours in accordance with recommended public safety protocols.
Kenya is the fourth country to record an Ebola case in the current outbreak, which was declared in eastern Congo in mid-May. Uganda recorded 20 cases and France one. Before Kenya reported its case, there had been no active cases outside Congo since Uganda declared its outbreak over in late August.
This is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history. The World Health Organization has warned it could become the deadliest as it continues to outpace efforts to track and contain it.
The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. Vaccine and treatment trials are underway in Congo’s Ituri province, the outbreak’s epicenter.
Kenya Health minister Aden Duale speaks to journalists as he announces the first case of Ebola virus in Kenya, Nairobi, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
A security guard wears a mask at the Ministry of Health after Kenya announced the first case of Ebola, in Nairobi, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
Kenya Health minister Aden Duale speaks to journalists as he announces the first case of Ebola virus in Kenya, Nairobi, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)
FILE -An aerial view of the slum of Kibera with the Nairobi skyline in the background, Kenya, Jan. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Riccardo Gangale, File)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for his efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos, tiny cosmic particles that scientists believe offer clues to how the universe evolved.
“It was a great surprise and I obviously didn’t expect it,” Halzen said, speaking to the committee by phone from Italy, in a call broadcast at the news conference to announce the winner.
Halzen said it was predicted before that he would win the Nobel Prize but the announcement still made him feel “strange.”
“I’m working on a proposal and I hope winning this will help getting it approved,” he said to chuckles.
The Nobel Committee for Physics also cited Halzen’s work at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, where he began researching the capture of neutrinos in the 1980s.
“Francis Halzen has led an international team of researchers and engineers who have provided us with a fantastic instrument. His tenacity and scientific vision has paved the way for a new kind of astronomy,” Mark Pearce, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said in a news release.
Born in Belgium, the 82-year-old scientist is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the U.S, the lead institution at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Efforts by The Associated Press to reach him were not immediately successful.
Neutrinos are tiny cosmic particles with a mind-bogglingly small mass. Yet they are everywhere: they spew from stars like the sun and trillions zip through our bodies every second.
Scientists can’t glimpse the mysterious ghost particles zooming around on their own. Instead, they measure what happens when the tiny particles collide with other bits of matter, producing flashes of light or charged particles.
Halzen studied a rare gang of neutrinos that scientists consider messengers from the cosmos, offering clues to how the universe evolved.
A representative from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory did not immediately return a request for comment. The University of Wisconsin–Madison did not immediately have a comment when reached by the AP.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award in Stockholm.
The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.
Last year, three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics for research on the strange behavior of subatomic particles called quantum tunneling that enabled the ultrasensitive measurements achieved by MRI machines and laid the groundwork for better cellphones and faster computers.
The announcements of this year's prizes began Monday with the Nobel Prize in medicine being awarded to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works.
This week's awards continue Wednesday with the chemistry prize and literature on Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Monday.
The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.
Dazio reported from Berlin and Ramakrishnan reported from New York. Alexa St. John in Detroit contributed to this report.
AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes
A portrait of Francis Halzen is shown on the screen during the announce of the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 6, 2026. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
A portrait of Francis Halzen is shown on the screen as Eva Olsson, Ellen Moons, and Mark Pearce announce as the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 6, 2026. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - A Nobel diploma and medal are displayed, Dec. 8, 2020, during a ceremony in New York. (Angela Weiss/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference to announce the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
