Image: COURTESY
Khasoko Boys High School in Bungoma County has been closed indefinitely following the death of a student under unclear circumstances.
Form Four students have, however, remained in school to continue with studies.
The closure comes barely a week after the student died while undergoing treatment at the Bungoma County Referral Hospital.
School principal Daniel Masombo who spoke to the media on phone said the postmortem revealed that the student died from acute malaria.
He said the school closure followed recommendations from the Ministry of Education as a result of mounting tension at the school.
Bungoma Health CEC Andrew Wamalwa said that the autopsy report indicated that the deceased had perforation in the stomach that led to peritonitis.
He said the county has sent a team of health experts to collect food and water samples from the school which will be sent to Nairobi for forensic laboratory tests to ascertain if there is an infection at the school.
“Let us remain calm as the health team does its job to ascertain what really happened,” Wamalwa said.
He confirmed to the Star that there is no other case that has been reported at the school.
The latest development comes just a day after Education CS Ezekiel Machogu closed Mukumu Girls High School in Kakamega County following a disease outbreak that has so far claimed four lives.
The CS also disbanded the school's board of management, transferred Principal Frida Ndolo and named Jane Mmbone as the school head.
On Friday, Director of Health Dr Patrick Amoth said in a statement that the deaths at the school were as a result of consumption of food contaminated with human faeces.
"The Ministry wishes to inform the general public that this disease is likely to be a mixture of E. coli and Salmonella typhi which usually occurs if water sources are contaminated with these micro-organisms," he said.
Amoth added that further laboratory investigations carried out on the grains and pulses for aflatoxin turned negative for aflatoxicosis.
