Alarm as strange disease strikes villages in Kisii

Health PS Mary Muthoni(in gloves) with Kisii County multi-agency team interacts with petients of a water borne disease ravaging the area of marondo in South Mugirango on 04/03/2025. [Stanley Ongwae, Standard]

Residents of Amarondo village in Kisii County are struggling with a disease that is yet to be fully identified but which authorities have now said is waterborne.

Marcela Morara, a mother of four, is among the tens of residents who are recovering from signs and symptoms of the common illness that experts have said is connected to poor sanitation levels of the community’s drinking water. Up to 76 families have been affected by the disease.

When she was taken ill on Friday, she started experiencing headaches, burns in the stomach that would prompt diarrhea, headache, and general body ache.

When she went to a nearby private health center, she was diagnosed with brucellosis and given medication, but it did not help.

Her problem started nearly the same time as that of her husband, but upon diagnosis at the same facilities, he was told he was suffering from a problem that was closely associated with arthritis.

When the health multi-agency team visited the family that lives about 300 meters from the water supply point, Marcela, her husband, and their 80-year-old mother were lying on a mat outside their semi-permanent house.

The granny was diagnosed with ulcers and arthritis, but the symptoms she was presenting were the same as theirs.

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Two of their four children, who are aged 22 and 16, were also taken ill with the same symptoms but were treated and responded to the medication almost immediately.

About a kilometer away from the home of Marcela, another elderly mother, Selina Kwamboka, complained of a headache, joint pains, body aches, and general weakness accompanied by diarrhea.

The body ache would sometimes transform to only joint pains and at times diarrhea.

One peculiar characteristic of the illness is that the symptoms are the same with all the sick people.

The public health crisis has drawn the attention of both the County and National governments, who have already pointed out the problem as contamination of the water the villagers consume from a common source.

The village is connected to piped water supplied from the common source, courtesy of an arrangement by the residents who contributed towards running of the supply system which the Government has no control over.

On Tuesday afternoon, Health Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni and Kisii Deputy Governor Elijah Obebo toured the village and announced the results of preliminary tests of water samples from the source and select homes where the disease had struck.

Muthoni said initial results indicated that the samples of water taken from all homes and that collected from the source were contaminated with faecal matter.

“Results show that all the water samples that were taken from the homes and the source were contaminated with faecal matter, an indicator that there was high compromise on hygiene standards in the area,” Muthoni said.

As a result, she announced the closure of the water supply system that is suspected to be the source of the illness that is wrecking the residents.

“We shall fence off the water point, and all villagers have been advised to seek an alternative source of water. But even with the alternative source, people should be keen with boiling the water before consumption,” the PS said.

About 70 other villagers connected to the water supply have been ailing with similar symptoms.

Muthoni said the government would continue monitoring the situation as more investigations and resolutions were sought to address the public health demands in the region.