October 11th, 2009

Swine Flu finds Kijabe

Seems like we had quite a few "bad colds" circulating around Kijabe in September. That's not surprising of itself, as this happens a lot about this time of year, especially at boarding schools when students return after long breaks. They all bring their new found viruses from home and share them around the dorms. Sort of a community fellowship experience. And at Kijabe we have several boarding schools including Rift Valley Academy (the largest), Kijabe Girls' Boarding High School and Kijabe Boys' Boarding H.S. In mid-September Josiah brought home the RVA version, and a week later I (Bob) had joined in the fellowship.

About that time the hospital began seeing several students from Kijabe Girls' with fever and various respiratory complaints. Two were admitted to isolation rooms "just in case." The Kenya press was already reporting on several cases of confirmed swine flu at a boarding school in Nairobi plus other confirmed cases from other parts of Kenya. The hospital notified the local health authorities about the several potential cases identified here, who in turn notified the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) offices in Nairobi.

A day later two officers from the CDC came to Kijabe to get swab specimens from the two admitted girls, plus several other girls who were not as sick but were being kept in isolation at one of the dorms at the high school, plus a few sick students at RVA as well. We were promised results by the following day.

Well, we got results the next day alright, but not from the CDC. The Kenya press reported that four swabs from Kijabe Girls' had tested positive for Swine Flu. The television news had footage of the school and an interview with the head teacher. It was actually the day following that the CDC contacted us with the results: four positive from Kijabe Girls' but neither of the two admitted girls nor any of the swabs from RVA had been positive.

By now the rash of respiratory viruses have pretty much run their course. The isolation of sick girls at the high school seems to have prevented any further spread of both swine flu and non-swine flu respiratory viruses. The same strategy at RVA seems to have had the same results, even though the virus there was not the "swine flu" H1N1 influenza virus. Seems like most bad colds are still just bad colds after all - at least for now.

This weekend is "mid-term break", when all boarding students leave their dorms for an extended weekend, return home or (if "home" is not in Kenya) spend a few days with their in-country guardians. Undoubtedly when the students return mid-week a few new viruses will start to be shared around. But the community is prepared. The hospital's community health personnel have been working with the administrative staff of the schools and have put contingency plans in place - plans that have now been tested and found effective.

The chief problem now is water. The extended drought in Kenya has created widespread water shortages, and here at Kijabe we are having to cope with water rationing. Since frequent hand washing is a foundational principle of preventing the spread of various communicable diseases, the lack of water could result in an increased risk of H1N1 or any other respiratory or intestinal illness spreading through Kijabe, especially in our boarding institutions.

Therefore please continue praying for rain. We've had a few good showers recently as we head into the "short rains" season (October & November.) But we will need many heavy rains if we are to see a restoration of Kenya's water table. Thank you, as always, for praying: for us, for Kijabe Hospital, and for Kenya.