Mombasa health officials issue Dengue Fever alert

Mombasa County health officials have issued an alert over an outbreak of the potentially fatal Dengue fever.

About 150 patients have been diagnosed with the mosquito-borne tropical disease in several health centres across the county.

County Healthy Chief Officer Khadija Shikely said the disease had spread and affected all the six sub-counties, with 119 cases confirmed in major private hospitals.

The county officers say the disease has also hit surrounding counties but denied any deaths, unlike in 2014 when three patients succumbed to the disease.

Mombasa health officials have now enhanced surveillance and precautionary measures against the disease.

Dengue fever is more prevalent in areas that are crowded and unhygienic. Heavy rains in the region are said to have created new breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which are the vectors transmitting the disease to humans.

Dr Shikely said 50 people had been taken ill in the county, with Kisauni reported to have the highest cases at 37 followed by Mvita, which has reported 25 patients.

Hospitals in Changamwe had by last Friday confirmed 21 cases and there was a similar number in Likoni. The county promised to mount a co-ordinated response.

Medical experts say there is no vaccine against the disease that has symptoms similar to malaria.

The disease was first detected in Mombasa in 2013 by medical research experts from the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Kilifi.