Beware of nine ways to die during Christmas and New Year festivities

The ill-fated Modern Coast Bus that was involved in Sachang'wan road accident on Tuesday

Yes, Christmas.

Forget about the disturbing numbers that have been released by the National Transport and Safety Authority on those who have died so far on Kenyan roads.

Several studies show you have a greater chance of dying during the festive season than any other time of the year. Researchers say the festive season has a spikes in deaths for all age groups with the exception of children.

As we enter the festive season the following are nine ways which you are likely to die in the next three weeks.

1. Being in a hurry to reach the party

Speeding has been identifi ed as one of the leading cases of deaths on Kenyan roads. With 150 people having died so far according to government statistics, indications are this December is going to be a gloomy one in terms of road safety. So bad is the situation that it forced President Uhuru Kenyatta to issue a warning to reckless drivers.

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has also issued a warning about the same and launched a campaign to restore sanity on the roads. “The National Police Service and NTSA have beefed up enforcement and patrol teams across the country,” says NTSA.

“Particular attention has been given to the following hazardous zones spread across the country; Salgaa, Sachangwan, Migaa and Soysambu area in Nakuru County; Bonje area in Kilifi County; Manyani area in Taita Taveta County; Lukenya and Maanzoni in Machakos County; Kiima Kiu/Salama and Konza area in Makueni County; Ntulele and Duka Moja Market centre in Narok County; and Kenol to Sagana & Kenol to Muranga section in Muranga and Kirinyaga counties,” it says

2. Not washing your hands

This looks like a routine part of life but is also the largest contributing factor to the spread of cholera. According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report released on Thursday there have been total of 3,967 laboratory-confi rmed and probable cases of Cholera in Kenya from the beginning of the year to end of November.  During that period there have been 76 deaths representing a fatality rate of 1.9 percent. Twenty of 47 counties (43 percent) have reported cases in the course of the year.

As we enter the festive season seven counties continue to have active cholera outbreaks (Embu, Garissa, Kirinyaga, Mombasa, Nairobi, Turkana, and Wajir). “Overall, the risk of the current outbreak is assessed as high at the national level. Travelers to the affected area to take proper hygiene precautions to prevent potential exposure,” says WHO.

But with a lot of food being served around it will be interesting to watch because the contamination of a single food or water source can lead to mass infections and deaths in a matter of hours.   If untreated Cholera kills within 72 hours.

3. Playing hide and seek with alcoblow

Although it is a known fact that the December holiday registers the highest number of road fatalities, avoiding to take a breathalyser test is increasingly becoming a contributing factor. There is a new tendency of drunken motorists staying at entertainment joints up to the wee hours of the morning in order to avoid taking an alcohol test.

“They race home in the wee hours of the morning when law enforcers are absent but end up in fatal crashes while overtaking,” National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) director general Francis Meja says. “Some even fall asleep while steel on the wheel. Infact most accidents that happen at night take place in the wee hours of the morning,” he says.

A number of Watsapp chat groups have been formed which warn drunken motorists where NTSA has set up road blocks as Kenyans continue to court death.

4. Getting your drink spiked

A number of prostitutes are part of criminal rings which steal by spiking the drinks of their clients in entertainment joints. Some of the drugs used which include Midozalam, Benzodiezepine, Rophinal and Temazipan are readily available in chemists. The drugs which are used as sedatives in the medical fi eld leaves people unable to remember what happened to them.

With the entertainment scene set to liven in the next three weeks, prostitutes will have a fi eld day spiking people. The fl ip side is any over dose of the drugs can cause instant death.  Last year at a time like this Hannah Magiri, 20, left her mother’s house in the company of two of her close friends to party.

As they partied at the club, it is claimed she smoked shisha suspected to have been laced with drugs, she became unconscious, vomited and blood oozed out of her mouth and nose. She later died at Tigoni Sub-County Hospital where doctors confi rmed that she had been poisoned.

5. Hanging out with your ‘Mpango wa Kando’ instead of family

Most clandestine lovers have other lovers on the side, according Ndung’u Kang’oro, a family life counsellor who says “The costs are deadly as it leads to the spread of HIV and murders of passion.” While it is easy to point out why there is an increase in sexual activity during the festive period, researchers from England recently published an article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine where they likened Christmas-New Year’s period to “a festival of fertility”.

According to them Christmas presents “Increased opportunities for socialising and a generally more hedonistic approach to life.” This means there will be more calls made to clandestine lovers, dead relationships, flings being revived and thousands of one night stands for the next three weeks. Infact it is well documented that pharmacies make more sales of birth prevention emergency pills on the day after Valentines and December 26.

If you consider the fact that a research conducted early this year by Ipsos Synovate revealed that 79 percent of women have dated married men then you have your answer why Kenya has the fourth highest HIV prevalence in the world. And while HIV won’t kill you instantly like accident, the consequences of a weakened immunity system are grave.

6. Eating or drinking more than ­ five litres of food in one sitting

“I ate so much food I am about to burst.” You are very likely to hear this statement countless times in the next three weeks but can your stomach really burst from over eating? Unfortunately it can although on rare cases according to various medical studies. In 2003, Japanese Japanese doctors wrote in a 2003 case report that has been used in a study over the matter published in the US National Library of Medicine that they believed a 49-year-old man had died from “excessive over eating.”

“Autopsy fi ndings revealed two rupture wounds measuring 14 cm and 6 cm located in the fundus of stomach at the side of the greater curvature despite of any superfi cial injury,” they said. According to them an adult’s stomach can hold about one or one-and-a-half litres of food or drink but if you go past that you start feeling nauseated.

For those with the Prader-Willi syndrome, a congenital disease that is characterized by an intense craving for food, scientists say fi lling your stomach with fi ve litres of drink or food at one sitting will make it burst. Death in this case is instant.

7. Getting into a fight

On the New year of 2009, Dr James Ng’ang’a, a law lecturer in the UK who was in Kenya for a vacation got into a brawl at Crooked-Q nightclub in Westlands, Nairobi. He was in the company of his brother of his brother John Gachera and Ms Jedidah Ahawa when they got into an argument with a police inspector and four other men.

The two groups of youthful revelers began fi ghting prompting the club security guards to intervene. They drove away in four cars after being thrown out of the club. Ng’ang’a was shot dead several metres down the road. While this looks like an isolated case getting into a fi ght while drunk is a common occurrence in the entertainment scene. The results of such fi ghts can be fatal. 

8. Assuming your car knows its way home

No it does not and this may be the most stupid phrase ever invented in the history of drinking, according to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). It is also a leading cause of death on our roads. 6 8 43%

9. Gobbling down one litre of vodka

You could die if you attempt to drown it the way you do with water. Since alcohol begins affecting us when it reaches the blood, our level of intoxication is measured in blood alcohol content (BAC). This refers to the weight of pure ethanol per unit of blood. For example a BAC of 0.1 means 0.1 percent of your blood is alcohol. The good effects of alcohol — euphoria, social ease, reduced anxiety — usually manifest when a person’s BAC is around 0.03 to 0.08. Even at this relatively low BAC, a few negative effects can manifest, including decreased ability to concentrate, poor reasoning and judgement, and decreased sensitivity in depth perception.

Past the 0.08 mark — motor control starts to diminish around 0.1, as does the ability to speak clearly or walk straight. This is also the point at which nausea and vomiting become a possibility, along with temporary erectile dysfunction. If a person continues to drink past this, they’ll experience impaired sensation, loss of consciousness and memory.

Most experts agree that the lethal dose, which describes a BAC that produces death from alcohol in half the population, falls into the 0.4- percent to 0.5-percent range. This is equivalent to a litre of vodka.