Seven individuals with six of them being children have been admitted to a Level 4 Hospital in Meru county after consuming a camel’s carcass.
100 patients had earlier been treated and discharged on Friday and early Saturday with many exhibiting symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea after consuming the meat due to lack of food as the region had been hit hard by drought.
“What happened to us is that a camel died and we went to cut the meat and cooked it and our children ate it, now they started to get sick. They picked us up at home and brought us to the hospital,” said one of the patients.
Many of the sick admitted to the hospital were women and children, with some being as young as 3-years-old, according to the hospital doctors.
The patients were complaining of headaches, stomach-aches, diarrhoea and vomiting.
The locals stated that hunger forced them to consume the meat from the two camels which are said to have died under unknown circumstances.
According to doctor Githu Wachira, who supervised the treatment of the victims, the patients had suffered from food poisoning.
“People were brought in after eating a camel that was dead and had not been examined by a doctor…unfortunately they got stomach problems, a disease that we call food poisoning,” Wachira said.
None of the victims however died as a result of food poisoning though some were admitted in critical condition.
“Many who came had problems with diarrhea, vomiting and headaches… and there are many who were in a bad condition, but at night the doctors volunteered and treated them all… we are very happy to share the report that not a single father has passed away,” she added.
This is not the first time such an incident has occurred in the area.