Death toll from cholera in Kenyan north eastern county of Mandera has risen to 13 after two more people died on Friday.
89 patients are still admitted at the county’s referral hospital according to The Star.
Medecins Sans Frontieres humanitarian officer Abubakar Abdullahi said the patients who are at the temporary cholera treatment centre at the hospital are in critical condition.
“There is a massive outbreak of the disease in the town. We are receiving patients in the final stages of the disease making it difficult to manage them.” Abdullahi said.
The outbreak was confirmed on April 29th after severe cases of diarrhoea were reported in Mandera town.
At the same time, an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease, Chikungunya is placing further pressure on already stretched health services in the county.
Over 500 are patients admitted in public hospitals.
Kenya’s Health Ministry has scaled down the number saying that only 260 suspected cases whose blood samples had been taken to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) have been reported.
The ministry dispatched a team of ten infectious disease control experts to Mandera to asses and contain the outbreak
Medical supplies comprising of antibiotics, IV fluids, chemicals for killings mosquitoes, pain killers and other protective equipment worth Sh80 million was also be airlifted.
Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected aedes mosquitoes.
After a bite, it takes 4 and 8 days for symptoms to be felt; but this can range between 2 to 12 days.
