The Ministry of Health (MoH) has confirmed an outbreak of yellow fever, an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitos, in the Merti and Garbatulla areas of Isiolo County.
According to the Ministry, 15 patients have so far presented symptoms of fever, jaundice, muscle and joint pains which are synonymous with the illness, whose first case of the illness in the County was recorded on January 12, 2022.
The youngest case is that of an 11-year-old minor, while the oldest is that of a 65-year old senior citizen. The majority of the infected are young male adults. Three persons, the Ministry says, have however succumbed to the illness.
“The Ministry has put in place a national incident management structure to manage the outbreak and is developing a response plan to deploy a rapid response team to Isiolo to establish the magnitude and extent of the outbreak and determine at-risk population,” MoH said in a statement.
The Ministry has similarly identified Wajir, Garissa, Marsabit, Meru, Samburu, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot and Turkana as high-risk counties susceptible to recording a similar outbreak.
“The National government and partners are mobilizing resources to support response activities. High-risk counties are advised to mobilize resources to support response and prevention activities,” MoH said.
The Ministry consequently stated that it plans to conduct yellow fever vaccination in Isiolo, other high risk counties and possibly Tana River and Mandera.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Yellow fever is prevented by an extremely effective vaccine, which is safe and affordable. A single dose of yellow fever is sufficient to grant sustained immunity and life-long protection against the disease.
A booster dose of the vaccine, WHO says, is rarely ever needed since the vaccine provides effective immunity within 10 days for 80-100 percent of people vaccinated and within 30 days for more than 99 percent of people vaccinated.
