Several people lost their lives in a span of two weeks after an unknown disease broke out in Mandera County.
On Thursday, May 11, reports indicated that 80 other people were hospitalised within the county's Kargi area.
Sources revealed that the number of deaths could be as high as nine individuals, including six adults and three children.
Patients exhibit flu symptoms, from severe headaches, swollen spleens to yellow eyes.
In some hospitals, patients subjected to malaria tests tested positive while others exhibited symptoms of kala-azar disease, formally known as leishmaniases.
The deaths came barely three months after officials from Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) and the Ministry of Health examined a new mosquito species, Laisamis, detected in Marsabit.
The one-week vector examination was conducted in mid-April, but health officials have yet to link the new disease to the mosquito species.
Our attempts to get confirmation from the Ministry of Health proved futile since Health acting Director General Patrick Amoth was unavailable.
At the time, Kemri warned that the new species could transmit malaria in urban and peri-urban settings.
What is Kala-zar Disease
According to World Health Organization, Leishmaniasis is caused by a protozoa parasite from over 20 Leishmania species.
The parasite is transmitted through bites of infected female phlebotomine sandflies, which feed on blood to produce eggs.
WHO cautions that in Africa, the disease affects areas of East and West Africa.
"Cutaneous Leishmaniasis is highly endemic in Algeria whereas in west Africa the epidemiological information is scarce. In east Africa all forms are endemic with outbreaks of visceral leishmaniasis occurring frequently," cautioned WHO.
