Woman, 4 children hospitalised after eating poisonous herbs

Salma Atieno recuperates at St Marys Mission Hospital in Mumias, following food poisoning. PHOTO | ISAAC WALE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He said his wife mixed the left-overs of the food they had taken for supper on Wednesday with fresh ones as she prepared lunch for the family.

  • Hassan Gangu said his wife mixed the Wednesday night left-overs with fresh vegetables as she prepared lunch for the family.

A woman and her four children have been hospitalised at St. Mary's Mission Hospital in Mumias, Kakamega County, after consuming poisonous herbs.

Ms Salma Atieno and her children ate the poisonous herbs which she had mixed with managu (African nightshade) and prepared for lunch in Mjini estate in Mumias, on Thursday.

“I cooked the plant whose leaves we have been eating for a long time and mixed it with managu. However, after the meal we lost consciousness,” said Ms Atieno from her hospital bed.

Three of the children aged between four and eight years are admitted in the children’s ward, while Abubakar Gangu,18, is recuperating in the male's ward.

"I had just reported to work when my neighbour called to inform me that my family members had fallen sick," said Mr Hassan Gangu.

LEFT-OVERS

He said his wife mixed the Wednesday night left-overs with fresh vegetables as she prepared lunch for the family.

"We have been eating the vegetables, I don't understand what happened,” said Mr Gangu.

Dr Protus Mate, who attended to the children, said the family was affected by datura stramonium (thorn apple) poison.

"Thorn apple is a poisonous plant that results in consciousness if consumed. It is absorbed very fast and the victims are lucky to have been brought to the hospital in time,” said Dr Mate.

He said the patients were out of danger.

"Only one child is still showing signs of confusion with dilated eye pupils," added Dr Mate.