7 Americans at US-backed Ebola isolation facility in Kenya, charity group says

What the report says

ABC News reported that seven American aid workers with Samaritan’s Purse are being held in quarantine at a U.S.-backed Ebola isolation site in Kenya after deployment to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The charity said none of the seven had shown symptoms. They were part of a 72-person Disaster Assistance Response Team, including 44 Americans and staff from nine other countries, according to the organization.

Samaritan’s Purse president and CEO Franklin Graham said the workers are undergoing the standard 21-day isolation period. ABC reported that the facility is located at Laikipia Air Base near Nanyuki, Kenya, and was established to hold Americans exposed to Ebola in the DRC or Uganda before they return to the United States. Graham described the workers as staying in military-style tents inside a fenced gravel area, with cots and food supplied by the U.S. military.

The site has drawn significant opposition in Kenya. ABC said critics have accused the United States of transferring health risks to Kenya, which has not recorded Ebola cases, while civil society groups have raised concerns about consultation and approvals. Kenya’s High Court had previously ordered construction stopped, and Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale was found in contempt after work continued; he later said activity at the site would halt. ABC said the facility was nevertheless completed and that the seven aid workers are believed to be its first occupants.

The development comes as the DRC outbreak worsens. ABC cited the World Health Organization as warning that the outbreak is spreading faster than any earlier DRC Ebola outbreak, with 2,124 confirmed cases and 828 deaths as of Thursday. The U.S. has also changed travel procedures for Americans leaving the DRC, requiring a 21-day wait before return.