About 20 students from Karagari secondary school in Evurori in Mbeere North have received medication at Ishiara level 4 hospital exhibiting diarrhoea with the county health department ruling out cases of cholera in the area.
The students who are said to have had diarrhoea were treated and released back to school.
While speaking to the press on the phone, Embu County’s chief officer in charge of Public Health, Daniel Mbogo, said the students have been taking untreated water from Thuci River – stressing that the untreated water was what caused them to fall ill.
Mbogo noted that the county found the water unfit for consumption after taking samples for analysis in the laboratory.
He urged the neighbouring schools and community not to panic since there was no cause for alarm – stressing that there was no cholera outbreak in the area.
The Public Health official said that most of the people in Ishiara consume water directly from the Thuci River. He noted that the water is infected with microorganisms which affects people since most homesteads in the area do not treat the water before they consume it.
“There was up was a surge of diarrhoea among students at this school and after visiting the institution we discovered they were consuming water directly from Thuci River.
“Our tests have shown there is a bacteria called giardiasis that once it enters the stomach manifest like Amoeba causing diarrhoea and that is why these students have diarrhoea,” Mbogo said, adding that there is a need to boil and treat water before consumption.
The Chief Officer said the incident is a replica of what is happening in a number of schools in the area and also in the neighbouring community where people have been complaining of stomachaches and diarrhoea because of taking untreated water.
“The highest number of cases at Ishaira Level 4 Hospital is where people are complaining of diarrhoea because of consuming un-piped and untreated water. We have assured all the students, teachers and all the residents of Ishiara that there is no cause for alarm,” he said.
Mbogo advised all the schools in the area to always treat water before they can consume it to avoid such cases.
Further, he lauded the county health surveillance response team for their quick response after the alarm in the school, saying the health department is always ready for any uncertainty.
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