The Ministry of Health in Kenya Wednesday confirmed a cholera outbreak in six counties: Kiambu, Nairobi, Murang’a, Kajiado, Nakuru, and Uasin Gishu.
The outbreak arose following a wedding festival held in Kiambu County recently. So far, 61 cases have been reported. Of these, 13 are currently hospitalized, eight have been discharged, and 40 were treated as outpatients.
The National Public Health Microbiology Laboratory has isolated Vibrio cholera-01-Ogawa as the responsible serotype for the outbreak.
In response to the outbreak, the Division of Disease Surveillance and Response, Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Program, and the CountyDepartments of Health of the affected counties have commenced response activities.
Among other things, the response teams are doing field investigations, enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing, case management, risk communication, community engagement, and environmental sanitation to prevent the further spread of the disease and manage the outbreak.
The Ministry warned that the ongoing drought situation in the country might worsen the outbreak. Consequently, the Ministry has to put all counties on high alert for possible cholera outbreaks.
Dr. Patrick Amoth, the acting Director General For Health, immediately ordered all county and sub-county health management teams to notify all the health workers of the alert.
Watch out for patients presenting with watery diarrhea of acute onset; conduct an active search for acute watery diarrhea in health facilities and communities for missed and unreported cases.
Further, the teams are required to strengthen surveillance activities up to the village level and, ensure 100 percent case-based reporting, strengthen the involvement of laboratory personnel in disease surveillance for timely confirmation. Step up weekly reporting to ensure that over 90% of facilities are reporting; enhance sharing of information between sub-counties and improve laboratory capacity for specimen collection and shipment.
Furthermore, the directive orders enhanced the involvement of other stakeholders, such as county and sub-county commissioners, communities, water agencies, and other partners, in surveillance and advocacy activities.
The teams will also carry out cholera risk analysis for all areas in the sub-county and take appropriate preventive actions and strengthen case management of cases at the sub-county and health facility level so that in case of any suspected or confirmed cases, they are managed at the source without referring to other facilities. These include having buffer stocks of ORS, TV fluids, and antibiotics to prevent morbidity and mortality.
The response teams are also tasked with developing an appropriate preparedness and response plan for the sub-county to prevent the propagation of any potential outbreak and strategy for sustained contact tracing and speedy isolation of any cholera cases if admitted in the wards.
The teams will carry out community sensitization on safe water practices, the use of latrines, and prompt treatment for diarrhea cases.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It has a short incubation period of two hours to five days, enhancing the potentially explosive pattern of outbreaks.
According to the Ministry of health, cholera affects both children and adults and can kill within hours.
Among people who develop symptoms, 80 percent have mild or moderate symptoms, while around 20 percent develop acute watery diarrhea with severe dehydration, which can lead to death if untreated.
People with low immunity such as malnourished children or people living with HIV – are at a greater risk of death if infected.
However, the disease is easily treatable. Up to 80 percent of people can be treated successfully through prompt administration of oral rehydration salts (WHO/UNICEF ORS standard sachet).
Very severely dehydrated patients require the administration of intravenous fluids. In addition, such patients also require appropriate antibiotics to diminish the duration of diarrhea, reduce the volume of rehydration fluids needed, and shorten the time of V. cholerae excretion.
CHOLERA ALERT
Ag. DG, Dr. Patrick Amoth confirms 61 cases of cholera across six counties. The outbreak whose origin can be traced to a wedding festival in Kiambu County has spread across Kiambu (31), Nairobi(17), Murang’a (1), Kajiado (2), Nakuru (2) & Uasin Gishu(8) counties. pic.twitter.com/b5fYECzplk
— Ministry of Health (@MOH_Kenya) October 20, 2022