Residents of 7 Nakuru estates seek help to eradicate bedbugs
Mr Peter Kimani, a volunteer, fumigates a house invested by bedbugs at Lake View Estate in Nakuru on March 14, 2017. More than 5,000 households have been affected by the pests. PHOTO | SULEIMAN | MBATIAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Residents using hot water on the bugs but say this only a temporary remedy.
- Mr Kimani says some of the affected children are likely to get skin diseases due to constant scratching.
More than 5,000 households in Nakuru are experiencing itchy, sleepless nights following an infestation of bedbugs.
Residents of Flamingo, Lake View, Rhoda, Kaptebwa, Mwariki, Bondeni and Kivumbini estates want the government to move with speed and “restore their dignity” by helping eradicate the parasites.
“Mostly they come out in large numbers at night especially when we retire to bed. Sometimes they make you lose sleep completely,” said Ms Faith Wangari an area resident.
Another resident, Ms Alice Nyambura, said they have been using hot water as a remedy but this only makes the pests inactive for a few hours.
However, Lake View estate residents had a sigh of relief when a well-wisher, Mr Peter Kimani, showed up in the estate and offered to spray their houses to eliminate the pests.
According to Mr Kimani who is also a resident, some of the affected children are likely to get skin diseases due to constant scratching after being bitten.
“Most of the children from the area suffer from rashes while some have a white covering on their skins which risks their health,” he said.
Nakuru County Health Officer Samuel King’ori said his department did a clean-up of the estates in 2016 but some residents were not available during the exercise.
“Some of the residents did not allow us to access their houses as some were absent when we conducted the exercise and when we were done, the pests spread to the houses again,” said Mr King’ori.
