Mombasa — Mombasa County Governor Sharif Nassir has issued an alert to the public on a diarrheal disease that is accompanied by severe vomiting.

Addressing the media in his office, Nassir said that he was alarmed with the increase of the reported cases of extreme diarrhea and vomiting especially from infants.

He said that there have been 75 recorded cases in the last two weeks and that tests have been conducted, ruling out Cholera.

So far out of 15 patients, 3 were confirmed with Rotavirus.

Rotavirus is a very contagious genus of double- stranded RNA viruses in the family of Reoviridae that causes diarrheal disease among infants and young children.

The most affected area is Kisauni Sub-County.

Nassir noted that a cautionary measure has been taken to hire 54 more medical staff at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital to handle the influx of patients.

He also added that the Community Health Volunteers (CHV) will help in the first aid of treatment of this disease noting that they will be under the County Government's stipend until the end of the financial year (June).

"In collaboration with the Water Department we shall install chlorination ports in the county to treat all water sources to ensure the residents have access to clean water and also regularize all Early Childhood Education (ECD) and the daycares for children under the age of 2 years by providing hand washing stations while sensitizing on the practice of proper hand hygiene," Nassir said.

Nassir assured the public that if the rest of the cases are confirmed to be Rotavirus, the Public Health Department will immediately roll out a vaccination drive.

He urged the trade department to sensitize food handlers and restaurants to have hand washing stations.

He also urged the residents of the county to observe utmost cleanliness, cooperate in the vaccination process and visit the nearest medical facility for checkup and treatment if they experience any of the aforementioned symptoms.