Kenya: Rift Valley Fever Claims 9 More Lives

Victor Obure
Nairobi

The killer Rift Valley fever has claimed nine more lives in Garissa District, pushing the death toll to 31 in a span of two weeks.

The fast rising fatalities forced Government officials in the area to close all slaughterhouses in North Eastern Province, where quarantine is already in place to avert further spread of the disease.

The latest victims of the highly contagious viral disease died in remote locations while grazing their livestock, amid fears that the outbreak might have spread to neighbouring districts.

Four herdsmen died in Ijara District while three others lost their lives moments after being ferried on donkey carts to Liboi health centre.

Fresh records indicated that three herdsmen collapsed and bled to death in Sangailu, while another one with symptoms of the killer disease died in Hulugho division.

Two victims died at an isolation ward at the Garissa Provincial General Hospital, where 12 others are admitted.

A military helicopter was deployed to airlift patients from remote and inaccessible areas. North Eastern Provincial medical officer of health, Dr Omar Ahmed, confirmed the latest deaths, adding that four out of the nine patients put under observation at Ijara District hospital died on Thursday morning.

Dr Ahmed also expressed fears that the disease was fast spreading into urban centres, including Garissa municipality, after two cases were reported at Iftin sub district hospital in Central division.

Consumption of animal products going on

The veterinary department also raised alarm over possible spread of the disease to neighbouring Wajir District after several animals were reported to have died from the disease.

And as the death toll rose, consumption of animal products went on unabated in major towns in northern Kenya as some hotel owners knowingly or unknowingly disregarded the directive.

This forced Garissa District Commissioner, Mr Joseph Imbwaga, to convene an impromptu public meeting to sensitise residents on the importance of observing the ban.

Area leaders including Assistant minister for Home affairs, Mr Hussein Maalim, and Garissa Mayor, Mr Siyat Osman, on Thursday mobilised civic leaders to propagate an awareness campaign on the outbreak. The leaders also called on President Kibaki to declare the current outbreak, coupled by floods in the area, a national disaster since pastoralists were about to starve following a ban on their staple diets.