Another School Closed Indefinitely After Disease Outbreak Affects 100 Students

Butere Boys High School in Kakamega County has become the second school in the county in a matter of hours to be closed indefinitely.

This is after over 100 students were hospitalised having exhibited cholera-like symptoms among them vomiting.

Reports indicated that the school administration asked parents and guardians to attend to the needs of the students at various hospitals while others were asked to pick up their children from the school.

Ministry of Health officials as well as those from Kakamega County public health were deployed to come up with measures to promptly contain the spread of suspected cholera cases at the school. In addition, the officials launched investigations to curb a possible cholera outbreak in the county. 

Butere Boys High School. /TWITTER.MBAITU FM

The affected students were rushed to Butere Level 4 Hospital as the public health officials placed the town on high alert for a possible cholera outbreak to avert more casualties.

Cholera Signs & Symptoms

Cholera, according to the Centres For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria.

People can get sick when they swallow food or water contaminated with cholera bacteria. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe and life-threatening.

About 1 in 10 people with cholera will experience severe symptoms, which, in the early stages, include profuse watery diarrhoea, sometimes described as “rice-water stools”, vomiting, thirst, leg cramps, restlessness or irritability.

Healthcare providers should look for signs of dehydration when examining a patient with profuse watery diarrhoea. These include: rapid heart rate, loss of skin elasticity, dry mucous membranes and low blood pressure

People with severe cholera can develop severe dehydration, which can lead to kidney failure. If left untreated, severe dehydration can lead to shock, coma, and death within hours.

The profuse diarrhoea produced by cholera patients contains large amounts of the infectious Vibrio cholerae germ that can infect others if swallowed. This can happen when the bacteria get on food or into water.

Prevention

To prevent the bacteria from spreading, all faeces (human waste) from sick persons should be thrown away carefully to ensure it does not contaminate anything nearby. People caring for cholera patients must wash their hands thoroughly after touching anything that might be contaminated with patients’ faeces (poop).

When cholera patients are treated quickly, they usually recover without long-term consequences. Cholera patients do not typically become carriers of the cholera bacteria after they recover, but they get sick if exposed again.

The closure comes a day after the indefinite closure of Mukumu Girls High School in Kakamega County following the deaths of two students in a case of suspected food and water poisoning.

Results from an autopsy conducted on Monday, April 3 revealed that Wendu Abetti Oyugi, a form one student at Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School, had succumbed to gastritis.

Pathologist, Titus Ngulungu, had indicated that the minor's stomach had bled due to inflammation. The medical practitioner, while explaining the situation further, alleged that the student may have ingested a toxic product.