At least nine people have died and more than 80 others hospitalised from a mysterious disease in northern Kenya’s Marsabit county.
A local administrator said out of the nine people who have died, six were adults and three were children between one and three years.
Most of the affected people exhibited flu-like symptoms, yellow eyes, swollen spleen and severe headaches, local media reported.
Some patients have tested positive for malaria but medics say visceral leishmaniasis – also known as kala-azar disease – cannot be ruled out.
Visceral leishmaniasis is characterized by irregular bouts of fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anaemia. It can be fatal if left untreated in over 95% of cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The outbreak comes two months after the Kenya Medical Research Institute detected an invasive mosquito species in Laisamis and Saku areas of Marsabit county.