Barely a week after President Uhuru Kenyatta’s visit to Mandera County, 540 people were admitted to different health facilities on Wednesday.
This came about following an attack by what health experts call Chikungunya fever caused by Chikungunya virus.
The viral ailment is said to be transmitted to human through infected mosquitoes.
Mandera County chief officer in charge of Health services, Maryam Dubow said the number is expected to grow because many schools were affected. She, however, assured that the health officials have already been deployed to various schools to conduct check-ups on the number of students who have the infection.
The disease brings about high fever and severe pain in the joints and fatigue as well as muscle pains. Other symptoms are headaches, skin rashes and nausea.
Chikungunya fever hardly causes death, but may bring about serious complications to certain patients. The complications may include, but not limited to respiratory and renal failure, cardiovascular decomposition and acute hepatitis.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), the ailment has some common clinical signs with dengue and can possibly be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is prevalent.
WHO says the Chikungunya fever is common in Africa, Asia and Indian Subcontinent, but in the recent decades, it spread to Europe and America.