Nine Dead, 80 Ill With Unknown Outbreak In Kenya

At least nine people have died and more than 80 others hospitalised from a mysterious disease outbreak in northern Kenya’s Marsabit county.

A local administrator said out of the nine people who have died, six were adults and three children between one and three years.

Most of the affected persons exhibited flu-like symptoms, yellow eyes, swollen spleen and severe headaches, local media reported.

Some patients have tested positive for malaria but medics say visceral leishmaniasis- also known as kala-azar disease – could not be ruled out.

The outbreak comes two months after the Kenya Medical Research Institute detected an invasive mosquito species in Laisamis and Saku areas of Marsabit county.

Source: BBC