Three more admitted with cholera in Kirinyaga

At least 12 people have been hospitalised in Kirinyaga since the disease was reported in the county on November 4, 2017. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

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County medical director,  Dr Hesbon Gakuo attributed the outbreak to the heavy rains which have contaminated local rivers.

Three more people were Thursday admitted to hospital following an outbreak of cholera in Kirinyaga County.

This brings to twelve the number of people who have been hospitalised since Saturday when the disease was reported in various parts of the region.

The trio were taken to Sagana sub-county hospital after they started complaining of stomach pains and vomiting and admitted for treatment.

Those who are in critical conditions are undergoing treatment at Kerugoya, Sagana, Kimbimbi and Mwea Mission hospitals.

NO DEATHS

They are mainly from Kwavii, Rukanga, Kinyaga , Murinduko and Kangai villages where residents had been drinking water from the highly contaminated Ragati and Rwamuthambi rivers.

Already 50 others have been treated and discharged but medics said no deaths had been reported.

County medical director,  Dr Hesbon Gakuo attributed the outbreak to the heavy rains which have contaminated local rivers.

“All wastes from towns and toilets have been swept into the rivers by rains pounding the region. When residents drink water from the contaminated rivers they get sick,” he said.

He said public health officers had been dispatched to the affected areas and were educating residents on preventing measures.

“Residents are being advised to boil drinking water and wash hands after visiting toilets. We do not want the disease to spread to other unaffected villages in the region,” said Dr Gakuo.

Dr Gakuo also said the residents were being given cholera preventive drugs as the situation was worrying.

The residents said the disease hit their villages on Saturday and left their colleagues in a critical condition.

“We have taken many of our colleagues to the hospital for treatment,” one of the residents.