Vihiga: Two people dead, 58 others hospitalised with food poisoning after eating in church

A sombre mood engulfed the Emuhaya sub-county hospital in Vihiga County as relatives and friends thronged the facility following the deaths of two people, one being a minor, in what is suspected to be a case of food poisoning.

Vihiga County Director of Health Dr. Benjamin Onduso said that, on Monday at about 10am, two patients were hospitalised exhibiting watery diarrhea and vomiting symptoms.

Dr. Onduso said the two were treated and stabilised, but that from 11am more patients kept coming in exhibiting the same symptoms.

The common denominator was a meal of rice and beans that those affected reportedly ate during a fundraiser at a PAG church in Luanda on Sunday.

At least 58 of the church members have since been admitted at the same hospital, with two of them critically ill and fighting for their lives.

Dr. Onduso said samples from the patients as well as the left over food in contention have been taken for toxicology analysis and they are awaiting results.

This even as the top PAG leadership is appealing to its followers to be calm as investigations are underway.