Kilifi, KENYA: Eight people in Kilifi County have been diagnosed with cholera, this is according to County Director of Health Services Dr. Bilal Mazoya has said.
On 23rd of August Kilifi department of health services wrote a letter demanding all food hawkers and cafes to seize selling such foodstuffs to the general public.
Dr. Mazoya said out of the eight people, five people were diagnosed with the disease after coming into contact with a child who died from acute diarrhea and vomiting on August 14; they were the first victims who also suffered acute diarrhea at the county hospital on August 19 and later tested positive.
He said on Thursday that a similar alert has been sent to medical facilities in all the seven sub counties to alert residents on the outbreak.
“It’s true there is an outbreak of Cholera in Kilifi and as up to Wednesday night we had received a total of eight people who tested positive of the disease,” Dr. Mazoya said.
“We have now set up a Cholera Treatment Centre (CTC) at Kiwandani dispensary to manage the cases of identified and any other subsequent cases from the locality,” he added.
County officer in charge of public health Eric Maitha said more than 900 community members in the area had been sensitized on hygiene practices at households through community health volunteers.
“We have distributed 960 bottles of water guard and 900 cholera facts sheets to the households in Kilifi County,” Maitha said.
He said 350 households had been dosed with ciprofloxacin and doxycycline.
“We are also working closely with other health actors including water department, private practitioners and other stakeholders to contain the situation,”Maitha added.
However, Richmond Dingi, Officer in charge of communicable diseases in Kilifi County said they are sensitizing the community on the importance of using latrines.
