________________________________________________________________________
Kenya trying to identify lethal mystery disease
Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net
Copyright ) 1997 Reuters
NAIROBI (December 24, 1997 08:24 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Kenya
medical authorities working with the United Nations and aid agencies are
investigating a disease that has killed at least 143 people in three
months, officials said Wednesday.
The U.N. World Health Organization (WHO), top Kenyan medical officials
and the aid agencies Oxfam and Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF-Doctors
without Frontiers) were trying to identify the disease, aid and
government officials said.
At least 143 people have died in North Eastern Province since torrential
rains linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon began in October, senior
regional officials said.
"We don't know what the cause is and the most logical way of going about
it is getting someone there and doing an epidemiological investigation,"
said Dr. Dominic Mutie of the WHO's disease control unit.
"They complain of severe headache, diarrhea and vomiting and then they
die. We think it is severe malaria. We have a lot of mosquitoes and
dirty water and that is what people are drinking," North Eastern deputy
provincial commissioner John Chege told Reuters.
The Daily Nation on Wednesday said 28 more people had died of the
"mystery disease," apparently since Monday.
Newspapers have linked the disease to Ebola or 11 other possible
diseases.
But WHO argued that only investigation could identify the disease and
said reporting of casualty figures was highly speculative.
"A lot of the reports are being given by local chiefs and they think
that anyone who dies is branded with this disease ... Data has not been
properly collected," said Mutie.
Malaria is endemic to Kenya, but recent heavy rains have significantly
increased the incidence of many water-borne diseases. WHO said last week
that 555 people had been killed by cholera in Kenya since the end of
June.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 12:58:03 PDT