It's hospital tests for Nandi 'soap sisters'

Sharon Chepchirchir, 24 and her sister Lydia Chepkemboi, 17. Inset: Sharon eating soap. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Two sisters from Nandi County with a rare appetite for soap will undergo tests at an Eldoret hospital starting tomorrow.

Sharon Chepchirchir, 24, (right) and her sister Lydia Chepkemboi, 17, stunned the country after going public with confessions of their insatiable craving for laundry and bath soaps.

Oak Tree Centre for Kidney and Chronic Diseases Hospital has invited the sisters for a series of tests after The Standard highlighted their story last Friday.

Ms Chepchirchir said yesterday they were ready to undergo the tests and get to the root of their unusual craving that developed when they were children.

“We are glad that the hospital was touched by our plight and desire to quit eating soap. It is also our hope that the tests will demystify our condition and lead to correction of the problem,” Chepchirchir said.

The hospital’s lead consultant, Mathew Koech, said they would carry out the tests at no financial costs to the family.

Dr Koech, a specialist in kidney diseases, described the soap-eating condition as rare.

“I read about this strange case from one of the WhatsApp groups – a medical school class group. It sounds to me like these cravings point towards some mineral deficiency,” said Koech.

The doctor said the hospital's medical team will be looking out for a potassium deficiency as well as a condition known as Pica.

Pica is a disorder that involves eating items that are not thought of as food and that do not contain significant nutritional value.

The items can include clay, hair, dirt, soap and paint chips.

Koech said the soap-eating disorder might be one that makes the body lose potassium through urine or any other form of bodily excretion.

“The fact that it is more than one person in the family argues against an acquired issue, for example, iron deficiency,” Koech said.

He continued: “Potassium disorders tend to be genetic and run in some families. But that is subject to thorough laboratory tests and analysis.”