Health officials identify Kenyan disease as malaria

December 26, 1997
Web posted at: 3:58 a.m. EST (0858 GMT)

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Kenya medical officials have identified a disease that has killed at least 143 people in three months as malaria, but are unsure of the strain.

The U.N. World Health Organization, top Kenya medical officials and the aid agencies Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders have been trying to identify the disease.

Malaria is endemic to Kenya, but recent heavy rains have significantly increased the incidence of many water-borne diseases.

At least 143 people have died in North Eastern Province since torrential rains linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon began in October, senior regional officials said.

"We don't know what the cause is and the most logical way of going about it is getting someone there and doing an epidemiological investigation," said Dr. Dominic Mutie of WHO's disease control unit.

"They complain of severe headache, diarrhea and vomiting and then they die. We think it is severe malaria. We have a lot of mosquitoes and dirty water and that is what people are drinking," North Eastern deputy provincial commissioner John Chege told Reuters.

Health officials are puzzled by the unusual symptoms.

Newspapers have linked the disease to Ebola or 11 other possible diseases.

But WHO argued that only investigation could identify the disease and said reporting of casualty figures was highly speculative.

"A lot of the reports are being given by local chiefs and they think that anyone who dies is branded with this disease...Data has not been properly collected," said Mutie.

WHO said last week that 555 people had been killed by cholera in Kenya since the end of June.

Nairobi Bureau Chief Catherine Bond and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related sites:

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• Doctors Without Borders
• Oxfam
• World Health Organization

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