Rift Valley Fever, a highly contagious virus, has killed 74 people in Kenya and infected hundreds more after spreading from the north-eastern region to the coast, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The fever, which is spread through mosquito bites or movement of contaminated animals, causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to death through bleeding.
”Seventy four people have so far died and 219 are infected,” Dr Shahnaaz Sharif, a chief medical specialist with the Ministry of Health, said.
He said the disease — which was earlier confined to the north-eastern province where nomadic herders crisscross the arid land with their livestock in search of water and pasture — has now crossed over to the neighbouring coastal province.
An outbreak of Rift Valley Fever was blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people in Kenya in 1997/98. — Reuters