Scare as 138 Ikonge Girls School are taken ill with food contamination

Some of the Ikonge PAG Girls students receiving treatment. [Stanley Ongwae, Standard]

138 girls of Ikonge PAG Girls in Nyamira are receiving treatment at various healthcare facilities in Nyamira County after they started exhibiting symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting and lower abdominal pains.

90 of the total affected learners were admitted to Ekerenyo Subcounty Hospital while 48 others were taken for treatment at a private healthcare center which is less than a kilometer from the institution.

Three among the 138 were yet to respond to first aid medication and were transferred to Nyamira County Referral Hospital for extended treatment.

According to the Nyamira North Sub-County Education Director Clare Oyula, the problem was reported this morning, but some of the learners who were receiving medical attention indicated that there were others who started feeling unwell on Tuesday evening.

County Executive for Health Dr Timothy Ombati who visited the students at Ekerenyo Sub-County Hospital confirmed that the students were exhibiting symptoms that could be linked to the consumption of contaminated food substance or water.

Ombati said already a team of public health experts had been dispatched to the school which is at Ikonge Township in Nyamira North to investigate the situation.

The girls who talked to journalists said all their colleagues who were affected had served porridge for breakfast Wednesday morning and started experiencing the symptoms immediately.

Ombati assured parents that the situation was not as worrying and that the students will be safeguarded against any further harm.