Cholera claims three lives in one month

By Titus Too

A cholera outbreak has claimed three lives in Nandi South District in the past month.

Two patients are still admitted to Kaptumo and Nandi Hills hospitals, while seven others were treated and discharged.

Rift Valley Provincial Medical Officer Ben Osore said all eateries at Chemase, Ndurio, Kiprotkorik, Kamarich, Kapsaos and Koringin locations and their environs have been shut to contain the disease. It is reported to have started at Chemase market.

Medical Officer Aoko Anyango said two patients died in Chemase in February, while the third patient died last week at the neigbouring Mosombor village.

Dr Anyango said medical officials have been mobilised and dispatched to the affected areas to sensitise the public on general hygiene to curb spread of the waterborne disease.

Unsafe water

She was speaking at Kobujoi, after Medical Services Minister Anyang’ Nyong’o officiated the laying of foundation stone for Nandi South District hospital over the weekend.

Anyango said the patients contracted the disease after drinking unsafe water at the congested open-air market.

She advised residents to avoid drinking untreated water adding that drugs for water treatment had been supplied to dispensaries in Kaptumo Division.

She said high mobility of residents in the area was also to blame for the disease’s spread and urged residents to sink pit latrines to improve hygiene. Anyango said most residents used bushes as toilets, thereby contaminating water sources.

Dr Osore also said the area was malaria prone at the onset of the rain season.

"Anti-malaria campaigns and household spraying will start from April. We urge residents to ensure their houses are sprayed," he said.

He also advised residents to use treated mosquito nets and destroy all mosquito breeding areas.

If treated with insecticide, the effectiveness of nets is greatly improved, generating a chemical halo that extends beyond the mosquito net itself. This tends to repel or deter mosquitoes from biting.