Three die of cholera in Wajir as 29 cases are reported
Wajir Public Health chief officer, Dr Mohammed Kahiye Bulle. He has announced an outbreak of cholera in the county.
Three people have died of cholera and 29 infected with the disease in the border Wajir County.
Wajir County Public Health chief officer Mohammed Kahiye said the cases were confirmed in Darfur, Shimbirbul and Biyamadoh locations.
Dr Kahiye said all the cases reported were from Wajir South, which borders Garissa County that had a high number of infections.
The first 13 people with the disease were admitted in hospital.
The chief officer attributed the cases to the cross border movement and the interactions of the host community and the refugees.
“We attribute this to frequent cross border movement and interaction of the host community and the refugees since the first cases were confirmed and managed in Dagahaley Refugee Camp in Garissa,” Dr Kahiye said.
The county has deployed a rapid response team to institute control measures and prevent further spread of the infection to the other locations and also manage the reported cases in its cholera treatment centres.
Dr Kahiye urged the public to stop unnecessary movement between Garissa and Wajir.
He also discouraged locals from visiting the cholera treatment centres where the reported cases are being managed.
“I urge the public to stop unnecessary movements and adhere to the rules we normally give. We have public officers on ground. They will advise. We also want people to consider not going to the CTC centers where we are managing the cases,” added Dr Kahiye.
Four deaths
However, he did not specify where the three cholera victims died in the county.
In Garissa, some 599 people in the county have been infected with cholera since October 23, with five deaths recorded as per Monday.
Most of the cases are in Hagadera, Dagahaley, Ifo, Saretho and Kambois refugee camps.
Records at Garissa department of health show four deaths were recorded at the refugee camps while the Dadaab host community lost one person.
The case fatality rate stands at 0.8 percent, the department said.
Fifteen new cases were recorded on Monday, all from Fafi Sub-County.
Garissa County Commissioner Boaz Cherutich (in Kaunda suit) and Health Executive Ahmednathir Omar on November 29, 2022. They said both levels of government have mobilised resources in mitigating the cholera outbreak in the county.
The Dadaab Refugee Complex has recorded a total of 557 cases while the host community has 22 infected persons.
Garissa Sub-County has eight cases while 12 have been referred to Garissa from the neighbouring Tana River County.
At least 499 patients were treated and discharged with the refugee camps recording 455 discharges while 26 were treated and discharged from Garissa County Referral Hospital
Some 18 other patients were treated and discharged from Saretho Cholera Treatment Unit.
Garissa County Health Executive Ahmednathir Omar said there were 95 active cases under treatment as per Monday.
“We are having 94 active cases in the refugee camps and one case at the county referral hospital. We are doing our best with the support of other agencies to manage the situation,” Mr Omar said.
Mr Omar blamed influx of people at the refugee camps for the epidemic.
