A mysterious disease that has caused scores of Kenyans to bleed to death from the nose and mouth also may be killing livestock, a UN health official said on Friday.

"At this point, we're concerned it may be something that affects both animals and people," said Douglas Klaucke, a World Health Organisation representative in Kenya. "If that were the case, then it would be something other than malaria," he said.

Laboratory workers were testing dozens of blood samples from humans and livestock suspected to have died from the mysterious disease in remote, flooded parts of northeast Kenya.

Doctors have only confirmed three deaths

Reports describe high fever, diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding from the nose and mouth as symptoms experienced by the human victims. The afflicted livestock also experienced external bleeding.

While some victims may have died of malaria, which is endemic in Kenya, Klaucke said there could be another cause. "But we just don't know at this point," he said.

Twelve possible diseases were being investigated, including yellow fever and dengue fever. Ebola, which also causes its victims to bleed from the mouth and other orifices, has been ruled out for the time being.

Flood areas have been hit by the infection

Local reports have said that as many as 217 people have died in flooded villages around Garissa,140 miles northeast of the capital, Nairobi. But doctors have been able to confirm only three deaths.

Red Cross officials said 42 people have died in neighbouring Somalia, and specimens were sent to Nairobi for analysis.

Experts have speculated that flooding brought on by the weather phenomenon, El Nino, may have contaminated drinking water and allowed pests that breed in floodwaters to flourish.

The outbreaks in both countries occurred along rivers - the Ewaso Nyiro River in Kenya and the Shabelle River in Somalia.
 

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