Kenya has recorded a yellow fever outbreak, with three fatalities already recorded in Isiolo county’s upper Eastern region of Kenya.
The Kenyan Ministry of Health, through its Acting Director-General, Patrick Amoth, confirmed this to NTV Kenya on Friday.
The confirmed cases were in Merti and Garbatulla sub-counties of Isiolo.
“The first case was detected on 12th January 2022. To date, 15 patients presenting with fever, jaundice, muscle pain, and joint pain have been line-listed; the youngest being 11 years and the oldest being 65 years,” Amoth stated in a memo sent to the health CECs across the country.
The health director further said the ministry had promptly perfected plans to “deploy a rapid response team to Isiolo and neighboring counties to establish the magnitude and extent of the outbreak, determine at-risk populations, conduct a risk assessment, initiate risk communication and community engagement activities, and to implement integrated vector control measures”.
He pointed out that although there was no specific anti-viral drug treatment for yellow fever.
“A single dose of the vaccine is effective to confer sustained immunity and lifelong protection against the disease,” Amoth noted.
The first-ever recorded outbreak of yellow fever in Kenya occurred from mid-1992 through March 1993 in the South Kerio Valley, Rift Valley Province.
Yellow Fever infection is medically diagnosed based on laboratory testing, the patient’s symptoms, as well as travel history.
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