Health officials consider using vaccine to tame cholera

As county directors of health and national government health officials meet Thursday next week on the response to cholera outbreak that has affected 10 counties, one of the top agenda is the possible use of oral cholera vaccine to prevent further spread.

Described by experts as a virulent disease, public health officials are looking at using one of the two World Health Organisation approved cholera vaccines alongside other methods to contain the disease.

“We are meeting to discuss possibility of using the cholera vaccine in the most-at-risk populations with low sanitation levels to prevent them from a future outbreak,” said Cabinet Secretary of Health James Macharia on telephone.

However, the global health body warns that the use of vaccines should not disrupt the long term interventions to control and prevent cholera such as improvement of personal hygiene and sanitation levels.

The meeting is also expected to handle claims that some institutions are not treating their sewage properly leading to the effluent contaminating water bodies where residents draw water thus increasing cholera cases.

Counties placed on the watch list as possible hubs for cholera spread will also be discussed at a meeting including a joint strategy to ensure the food-borne disease.

Unregulated water sources and poor hand hygiene have also been blamed for the increased cases in the affected Nairobi, Thika, Nakuru and seven other counties. Nationally about 2,000 cases have been reported and 53 deaths recorded.

When considered for use, the cholera vaccine is targeted at children under five, persons with limited access to healthcare and those with no access to adequate water and sanitation facilities with scientific studies showing it has an efficacy between 58 to 85 per cent providing protection of about two to three years.