One person has died as cases of cholera hit 73 in Homa Bay County.
Chief Officer for Health Kevin Osuri has said postmortem results conducted on a seven-year-old girl who passed on last week has revealed that she succumbed to cholera at Suba-Sub-county hospital in Sindo town.
The girl died on Wednesday last week before her body samples were taken for a medical test at Homa Bay County referral hospital.
The deceased was taken to the hospital after she was overwhelmed but died before what was ailing her was established.
This forced medical officers in the hospital to undertake medical tests before it was established that she had contracted the disease.
Dr Osuri said the cases had risen to 73 from 36 on Monday.
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"It is sad that we have lost one person due to a cholera outbreak. This is after medical results that the death resulted from cholera," Osuri said.
He said the affected patients are in isolation wards at Suba Sub-county hospital.
Majority of them come from Sindo town market and Wadiang'a main beach in Kaksingri West ward while others hail from Gwassi North ward in Suba Sub-county.
Osuri said they are putting measures in place to contain the disease including boosting surveillance to keep the disease at bay.
The surveillance team on the ground includes those who are sensitizing residents on preventive measures against the disease and those who are attending to the patients for medication.
"I urge residents to be calm as we are fighting the spread of the disease in our county," Osuri said.
Osuri challenged the resident to maintain hygiene in their environment by drinking clean water, eating well cooked food and avoiding open defecation among other measures.