The Nakuru County government has warned residents to be cautious of what they consume during the Christmas celebrations in order to avoid contracting diseases.
According to the Public Health Department, the caution applies to both sanitation as well as the slaughtering of animals.
“As the public goes on with the festivities, those who want to slaughter [animals] can do so at slaughter houses where we shall have meat inspectors,” said the county Public Health Officer Samuel King’ori.
Mr King’ori warned that consuming uninspected meat is a risk as one can contract deadly diseases.
ANTHRAX
“Uninspected meat and very dangerous due to zoonotic diseases like anthrax,” he said.
According to Mr King’ori, most of the sanitation-related infections are usually as a result of poor handling of food which leads to food poisoning.
“More caution should be exercised whenever there are outside catering services for parties or any other forms of gatherings,” he said.
Mr King’ori noted that Nakuru’s location along the highway makes it vulnerable to diseases especially due to poor sanitation.
He urged hotel owners to observe hygiene while handling food.
In 2015 Nakuru was hard hit by an outbreak of cholera which claimed dozens of lives while in 2016 more than 70 people were diagnosed with anthrax after consuming uninspected meat.