Alarm in Embu as 68 students hospitalised after eating suspected contaminated meat
Some of the students from St Thomas Aquinas Igumori Secondary School in Embu County at Kiritiri Sub-County Hospital where they were taken after consuming contaminated meat.
What you need to know:
- A total of 55 students were treated and discharged while 13 of them were admitted.
- Two teachers who also ate the meat were also taken to the hospital where they were treated and discharged.
At least 68 students from St Thomas Aquinas Igumori Secondary School in Embu county have been taken to the hospital after consuming contaminated meat.
The students started complaining of stomach pain and diarrhoea when they ate meat from a bull which had been slaughtered in the school on Wednesday to motivate the learners to work hard in their studies.
They were rushed to Kiritiri Sub- County hospital on Friday for treatment. A total of 55 students were treated and discharged while 13 of them were admitted.
Later three of the 13 students were transferred to Embu Referral Hospital for specialised treatment after their condition worsened.
Two teachers who also ate the meat were also taken to the hospital where they were treated and discharged.
According to the school authority only Form Four students who consumed bull head which had been boiled were affected. Those who fell sick after the feast were 28 girls and 40 boys.
School principal Paul Mwaniki said the meat was inspected by a qualified meat inspector before it was consumed by all the students and the school staff.
"Apart from the Form Fours, the other students were not affected," Mr Mwaniki said.
He said the Form Four students and two teachers consumed the head of the bull got sick hours later.
St Thomas Aquinas Igumori Secondary School in Embu county where students fell sick after consuming contaminated meat.
"It was the head which was contaminated due to poor handling and that is why the Form Fours and two teachers were affected," Mr Mwaniki said.
He said he briefed the County Director of Education of what had happened and they agreed that the students be rushed to the public hospital for treatment.
The principal said the students were in a stable condition and majority responded well to treatment.
"There should be no cause for alarm, the students are out of danger," the principal said.
He said medics responded very fast and were able to save the lives of the students who had been affected after the feast in the school.
Embu Health Executive Jamal Runyenjes said the medics did a good job to save the students and told them to keep up the spirit.
He said public health officials visited the school and carried out investigations to establish the truth of the matter.
"Preliminary investigations established that the head of the bull that was consumed by few students and two teachers was not hygienically handled properly," he said.
He said the situation has been contained and there should be no panic.