Kenya: Flu Students Put in Isolation

Henry Nyarora and Cosmas Butunyi

21 August 2009

---

• Nairobi — The government has imposed a quarantine on the six students of Riakworo Secondary School in Masaba North District who have tested positive for the H1N1 flu.

Neither the students nor members of their families will be allowed to move from their homes for the seven days during which the quarantine will be in force.

Nyanza provincial public health officer Tom Andebe yesterday said the measures were meant to stem the spread of the disease in the area, adding that the affected families will be counselled by a team of medical experts during the period of isolation.

"We are not using the police to restrict them within their homes. It is out of a mutual understanding," said Dr Andebe.

He said so far the response had been good and the students and their families were responding well to the measures.

The H1N1 virus has an incubation period of between 14 and 21 days, during which it remains dormant in the body but can cause an infection if conditions become favourable.

Random screening

Yesterday, a team of officers from the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation combed the district in an attempt to trace the movements of those who had tested positive to the virus.

"Apart from random screening, we are also conducting an advocacy campaign to encourage those who exhibit symptoms of the flu to seek medical attention at recognised health institutions," Dr Andebe said.

The Masaba North district public health officer Thomas Nyang'au said 21 medical officers, in three teams of seven each, are on the ground carrying out investigations.

Taken ill

The six students were part of a school team that returned home from the national music festivals in Mombasa. They are said to have been taken ill on their way back from the fete and taken to Kenyatta National Hospital for examination.

The new developments in Masaba came as four employees of a flower farm in Eldama Ravine became the first suspected cases of the flu in the region.

The four, all women, were ordered to stay off their work stations at the Ravine Roses Flower Company until the Government Chemist releases the results of mucus samples taken from them.

Koibatek District medical health officer, Dr Christopher Kemboi, confirmed the cases.