About 75 people have died in Kenya of a hemorrhagic fever called Rift Valley Fever over the past three weeks and another 183 are infected with it, a senior health official said Sunday, according to The Associated Press. The death toll could be higher because the figures are only of adult victims as people in Northeastern Province rarely record the deaths of their children, said Dr. Ahmed Omar Ahmed, the province's chief medical officer. This latest outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in Kenya saw its first victim die in mid-December. The diseases' victims are residents of either the Northeastern or Coast Province, which received uncharacteristically heavy rain in December that caused flooding and created a large breading ground for mosquitoes, which spread the fever's virus from livestock to humans. Infected mosquitoes may also lay eggs, which can survive for up to several years in dry conditions until it rains and they hatch to produce other infected mosquitoes and spread the disease years later, according to the World Health Organization. The disease has also spread in Northeastern Province because people have defied a ban on meat and milk sales imposed in December to protect them, Ahmed said.
