Kenya issues national cholera alert as it steps up surveillance

Kenya has activated national outbreak management and rapid response teams to mitigate a cholera outbreak that has caused deaths in different parts of the country.

As of last Sunday, four people had died in Nairobi, Vihiga, Murang'a and Kiambu counties with another 142 hospitalised cases reported. Other than Vihiga, in western Kenya, the other three counties are in the central region of the country.

Director of Medical Services, Dr Jackson Kioko, said in a statement that the ministry has heightened surveillance for acute watery diarrhoea by conducting active case search and contact tracing to curb more deaths.

“As a response to the outbreak, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with county governments and various partners have taken measures to ensure public safety,” said Dr Kioko.

“The country has been having a cholera outbreak since early May, with the first two cases reported in Mathare area, Nairobi. Later, the outbreak was reported in other areas of the country,” he added.

He said that some of the cases reported in Nairobi, the coastal city of Mombasa and Vihiga are linked to a wedding held at Karen in Nairobi over a week ago.

The police are still searching for the female caterer involved at the event amid ongoing State inspection of public eateries.

Highly infectious

Cholera is an infectious disease which presents with sudden onset of watery diarrhoea and vomiting associated with ingestion of water or food contaminated with cholera germs.

The government says Garissa, in the northeast, has reported 88 cases followed by Nairobi with 29 cases and one death.

Vihiga reported 15 cases with two deaths, Mombasa two cases, Murang’a 11 cases with one death, while Kiambu has reported one case.

The affected devolved units have been asked to follow cholera management guidelines, including setting up of cholera treatment centres.

Neighbouring countries including Somalia and South Sudan have also been hit by an outbreak of the disease.

READ: It’s a triple tragedy for Somalia’s sick and starving refugees

Kenya's alert comes barely a week after newly elected World Health Organisation (WHO) boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ win was almost threatened by allegations that he had misreported outbreaks of cholera in Ethiopia as “acute watery diarrhoea” (AWD).

Ethiopia is the only country in the Horn not to have experienced an officially acknowledged cholera outbreak for a decade now.

More than 16,000 cases of what Ethiopia calls AWD have been diagnosed in Somalia this year, where a major cholera epidemic is ongoing.

Create awareness

Dr Kioko said that the ministry continues to monitor and coordinate response “with an aim of bringing the epidemic to an end as quickly as possible”.

The government has also started supplying water treatment chemicals, laboratory supplies, and educational materials for awareness creation.

“Members of the public should ensure that they observe proper sanitation and maintain high standards of personal hygiene including proper hand washing before eating food and visiting the toilet,” said Dr Kioko.