Unknown disease leaves 9 dead, 80 critically ill in Kenya

An unknown disease in northern Kenya’s Marsabit county has killed at least nine people and left eighty hospitalised.

According to BBC.com, the victims showed signs of yellow eyes, flu, swollen spleen and severe headaches.

Medical officers believe that even though many patients have tested positive for malaria, visceral leishmaniasis is glaring due to the symptoms.

Visceral leishmaniasis is a disease also known as kala-azar and is characterised by irregular bouts of fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anaemia according to the WHO.

The outbreak comes two months after the Kenya Medical Research Institute discovered a mosquito species in the Laisamis and Saku areas of Marsabit county.

It is also reported that out of the nine people dead, six were adults and three children between the ages of one and three.