The Ministry of Kenyan Education closed an institute in the west of the country this Wednesday after nearly a hundred female students fell ill due to the outbreak of a “strange disease”, still unidentified, which causes such severe pain in their knees that it prevents them from walking.
The colleagues of the sick students “have been allowed to take a temporary break and are expected to return next week, once the situation has been carefully evaluated and the necessary measures are implemented to prevent a similar situation,” they highlighted in a statement. joint statement from the Ministry of Education and the Government of Kakamega County, where the events occurred.
The disease affected the Eregi girls’ secondary school.
🇰🇪 | THE LATEST: Nearly 100 students from St. Teresa’s Eregi Girls’ Secondary School in Kenya were hospitalized with a mysterious illness.
Reports say that most of the students’ legs are paralyzed and they cannot walk.
Some of the… pic.twitter.com/CXt6h2A3xL
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Details are missing
Kenya’s Education Minister Ezekiel Machogu is scheduled to visit the institute this Wednesday, after local authorities said they were committed to getting to the bottom of the matter.
The authorities have not yet revealed many details about the symptoms suffered by the students.
“This is a very strange disease, but we are still analyzing the diagnoses to determine its cause. Samples of faeces, urine and blood have been taken and sent to laboratories in Kisumu and Nairobi,” said an official from the Kakamega County Executive Health Council, Dr. Bernard Wesonga, in statements reported by local media.
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According to Wesonga, the female students They cannot walk due to severe pain in their knees.
Other medical sources indicated, under condition of anonymity, that the patients They had high electrolyte levelssomething that may be related to dehydration, an adrenal gland disorder, or kidney problems.