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An alert has been issued of a possible cholera outbreak by the Nairobi County health department.
All hospitals in the county-both referral and sub county facilities-have therefore been asked to treat every suspected incident of the disease as a cholera case.
Nairobi County Health Director Dr Lucia Koyio said the alert has been informed by a case of cholera confirmed on Wednesday.
Koyio asked all referral facilities in the county to reactivate their cholera treatment protocol to prevent the spread of the disease.
“All sub counties should be on high alert and treat all suspected cases of cholera as cholera cases. Please also reactivate your sub county response team,” she said.
The alert by Nairobi County comes a few days after another that was issued by the neighbouring Kajiado County.
Kajiado Public Health office on Friday last week issued a similar alert after four suspected cases of cholera were recorded. One patient tested positive.
The cases were treated at Kitengela Sub County Hospital.
The notice by health public officer advised residents to report all cases of diarrhoea and they should avoid eating foods from unsanitary places.
“Ensure you wash your hands before eating any item and after visiting the toilet. Also ensure proper use and cleaning of sanitary facilities,” read the alert in part.
Despite measures put in place by both the counties and national government, cholera outbreaks have been recurring almost yearly.
From January 1, to June 2018 up to 75 people were reported dead from the disease across 19 counties, according to the Ministry of Health.
Some 76 people died of cholera in 20 counties from January 1 to November 29 last year, according to WHO Disease Outbreak Report dated December 11, 2017.
The number of people who tested positive for cholera between January and June 2018 are nearly half (279) of those recorded in 2017 (596).
In addition, the number of suspected cholera cases for 2018 were (4,954) higher than those recorded in 2017 (4,059).
Some of the counties affected are Garissa, Turkana, West Pokot, Isiolo, Kiambu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nairobi, Machakos, Tana River and Kilifi.
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