UK Media Reports Diarrhoea Broke Out at British Military Camp in Nanyuki Despite Govt Denial
The British media organization, Daily Mail, has conveyed that a total of 172 UK military personnel deployed at Nanyuki Camp in Kenya experienced an outbreak of diarrhea in the year 2022.
In an extensive report, the media source, recognized as one of the most widely-read publications globally, stated that the epidemic persisted for a period of three months from February to April 2022.
The illness was so intense that certain soldiers experienced its impact for a duration of three days.
The confirmation of the outbreak came from Liverpool researchers, as detailed in an article in the Open Forum Infectious Diseases Journal. They pointed out that the outbreak resulted from a newly identified subtype of Cryptosporidium hominis.
“Data were collated from diarrhea cases, and fecal samples were analyzed on-site using the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) BioFire FilmArray. Water was tested using Colilert kits (IDEXX, UK). DNA was extracted from feces for molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium A135, Lib13, ssu rRNA, and gp60 genes,” read the article published on January 3, 2024.
“One hundred seventy-two of 1,200 (14.3%) personnel at risk developed diarrhea over 69 days. One hundred six primary fecal samples were tested, and 63/106 were positive for Cryptosporidium spp. Thirty-eight had Cryptosporidium spp. alone, and 25 had Cryptosporidium spp.”
The initial reports of the outbreak were first revealed by the Kenyan media, including GOSSIPA2Z.COM, on Friday. However, the Laikipia County Government promptly released a statement denying the claims.
Albert Taiti, the Chief Executive Committee (CEC) overseeing Health in Laikipia, denied the existence of any reported diseases at the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) camp.
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“This is to inform the general public of false information circulating in social media networks about a cholera outbreak at the British Army Camp in Nanyuki,” Taiti stated.
“The Laikipia Health Service has confirmed with the Medical and Surveillance Teams at the camp that there is no case of cholera or any other disease of public health concern at the camp.”
According to information gathered by Press Gazette, The Daily Mail achieves daily sales of 683,530 physical copies, with a peak of 1.3 million on Saturdays.
The website attracts a monthly audience of 24 million individuals, equivalent to approximately four million daily visitors. The average age of its readers is 56 years old.
On the 26th of February, the Directorate of Public Communications removed its tweet regarding X, wherein it stated that 172 people at the camp had been impacted by the Cholera outbreak over the preceding three months.
This assertion contradicted the information in the Daily Mail article, which claimed that the disease outbreak took place in 2022. Adding to the complexity, the directorate also connected the instances to a distinct subtype of parasite associated with monkeys raised on Chinese farms.
UK Media Reports Diarrhoea Broke Out at British Military Camp in Nanyuki Despite Govt Denial