Samples of Mukumu Girls students who were taken ill with diarrhoea on Tuesday have been sent to Kemri, Kisumu for further analysis.
More than 100 students at the school were rushed to the hospital after contracting diarrhoea but doctors could not immediately establish the cause of the infections.
Kakamega County General Hospital superintendent Dr Boniface Nyumbile said that results from Kemri were expected back later Wednesday(today).
“The outcome will help establish the cause of infections,” he said.
Doctors at the hospital have ruled out cholera and aflatoxin as the cause of the diarrhoea.
They suspect the attack may have been caused by food or water poisoning.
Nyumbile said that the number of students admitted at the facility rose to 15 after two more were admitted later in the night.
Of the 124 students who were checked at the hospital, 13 were admitted on Tuesday evening while the rest were treated and discharged.
Nyumbile said that the students showed signs of fatigue, diarrhoea, and breathing difficulties.
The school couldn’t allow the media inside the institution and the principal Friday Amwayi did not answer calls or respond to text messages.
In a statement Wednesday, Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa urged parents and guardians of all the 2,200 students at school to be patient as experts unravel the cause of illness.
“I assure you all that our girls are in very safe hands,” he said.
Barasa said that the county had activated its systems including setting up a dedicated health desk at the hospital and it is ready to attend to any emergency should there be need.
“I thank all the health workers, including the ambulance paramedics for their quick response and action in saving the lives of our children,” he said.
In May last year, 28 students from the school were hospitalised with fever and diarrhoea.
Last year in July, two students from the school died while receiving treatment for a suspected malaria attack.
Ministry of health officials were sent to the school to investigate the causes of deaths linked to a malaria outbreak.
