Mystery disease kills 13 in northeast Kenya

Thirteen people are reported to have died in the last three days of a mysterious disease in the Wajir and Garissa districts of Kenya's North Eastern Province, Kenyan radio reported on Sunday.

North Eastern Province medical officer Dr Abdi Hassan said the disease, which leaves victims bleeding uncontrollably from body cavities, could be haemorrhagic fever caused by a viral strain passed on by species of the anopheles mosquito.

Hassan rejected rumours going round the district that there was an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, and said the nature of the disease would be confirmed after blood samples had been tested in Nairobi.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.