A family in Makueni County has been stricken by a "strange disease" that has left many shocked.
Five out of the seven children of Katina Ruthenia and her late husband have been attacked by this malady that has no name yet attached to it.
The illness leaves their bodies weakened to the extent that they only use wheelchairs to move around the compound.
One by one, the disease has encroached the five children and they exhibit symptoms familiar to paralysis as their limbs have been rendered almost powerless.
"This disease is very strange and dangerous. As we are speaking now, three out of the five attacked children are completely paralyzed," Phillip Mulingwa, a neighbor stated.
So dire is the situation that Phillip has offered to assist the afflicted family in Iyota Village in food mobilization from well-wishers.
The victims first lose body weight, feel pain in their body joints before they gradually lose their ability to walk.
"I was working in Mombasa when this ailment attacked me. I felt my body's energy levels dropping that I had to come back home. The disease is still threatening to paralyze me," Jacinta Wayua, one of the family's children told the KBC reporter who visited their home.
Attempts to treat the first child to be attacked by the ailment, Justin Ruthenia, hit a dead end as the doctors who diagnosed him found the disease to be in its last stages.
"I first took him (Justin) to a hospital in Machakos in the year 2000 where a group of doctors from abroad diagnosed him and found it too late to help his case," Mulingwa added.
Visits by the family to traditional herbalists for treatments have also proved useless as the illness continues to ravish their bodies.
"We call on the government to help us because we do not want to see our entire household going extinct over this disease. We have tried everything but they are all failing. Please come and help us deal with this ordeal," Benedetta Kalunde, a relative to the family pleaded.
They now peg their survival on the goodness of well-wisher and medical experts.
