Kenya has recorded a yellow fever outbreak, with three fatalities already recorded in Isiolo county’s upper Eastern region of Kenya.

The Kenyan Ministry of Health, through its Acting Director-General, Patrick Amoth, confirmed this to NTV Kenya on Friday.

The confirmed cases were in Merti and Garbatulla sub-counties of Isiolo.

“The first case was detected on 12th January 2022. To date, 15 patients presenting with fever, jaundice, muscle pain, and joint pain have been line-listed; the youngest being 11 years and the oldest being 65 years,” Amoth stated in a memo sent to the health CECs across the country.

The health director further said the ministry had promptly perfected plans to “deploy a rapid response team to Isiolo and neighboring counties to establish the magnitude and extent of the outbreak, determine at-risk populations, conduct a risk assessment, initiate risk communication and community engagement activities, and to implement integrated vector control measures”.

He pointed out that although there was no specific anti-viral drug treatment for yellow fever.

“A single dose of the vaccine is effective to confer sustained immunity and lifelong protection against the disease,” Amoth noted.

The first-ever recorded outbreak of yellow fever in Kenya occurred from mid-1992 through March 1993 in the South Kerio Valley, Rift Valley Province.

Yellow Fever infection is medically diagnosed based on laboratory testing, the patient’s symptoms, as well as travel history.

Copyright PUNCH.