Cholera cases have continued to rise in Kenya according to the Nairobi Hospital following the death of one of its staff. Nairobi, the country’s capital, has been most notably impacted with seven of the hospitals being admitted.
“There is an upsurge of cholera cases in the county of Nairobi. We have had several cases admitted in our hospital. Unfortunately, we had 8 staff affected,” said Dr Chris Abeid, the acting Chief Executive Officer in a statement.
The hospital said it has established that in the last 10 days, they admitted, offered treatment and discharged 23 cholera patients. “8 of those reported cases were from the Nairobi Hospital staff.”
The hospital, however, said, “There is no outbreak of Cholera in the hospital….. no patient is at risk and we are continuously monitoring.”
“As part of ongoing internal investigations, we have alerted County Health authorities and they are currently on-site,” said Dr. Abeid.
Early March, the Nairobi County Director of Health Lucina Koyio said that all sub-counties in the capital were on alert.
“The county is experiencing a wave of cholera outbreak which was confirmed on March 20. In this regard, I am requesting all referral hospitals to reactivate their cholera treatment units to prevent the spread of the disease,” said Dr Koyio.
What is Cholera?
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease. It can kill within hours unless it is sufficiently treated.
According to the World Health Organisation, it is caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development.
Symptoms
It is an extremely virulent disease that can cause severe acute watery diarrhoea. It takes between 12 hours and 5 days for a person to show symptoms after ingesting contaminated food or water (2). Cholera affects both children and adults and can kill within hours if untreated.
Treatment
It is an easily treatable disease. The majority of people can be treated successfully through prompt administration of oral rehydration solution (ORS).
