Scores of students from St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Igumori, Embu County, are in treatment across various hospitals after a suspected food poisoning incident.
A total of 68 learners were taken ill after allegedly consuming contaminated beef.
The students are said to have slaughtered a bull whose beef they partook in before they started developing abdominal pains.
According to the school principal, Paul Mwaniki, the victims were all Form Four students.
Mwaniki said the number of victims continued to rise prompting the school to organise their referral to the Kiritiri Sub-County Hospital after admission to a local private facility.
Read More
The school suspects that the beef and stew was prepared in an unhygienic setting.
Embu County CEC for Health Jamal Runyeje said the county had deployed officers to investigate the incident.
The preliminary probe showed that the preparation of the meal did not observe hygienic standards.
"Our public health officers have been camping at the school where they started a preliminary probe to ascertain what happened. The primary findings indicate that the handling of the food was not professional and that is what caused the problem," Jamal said.
Their conditions are currently stable as they get treatment.
Incidents of students being hospitalised over food poisoning have been rampant in the recent past.
A few years back, Mukumu Girls High School was constantly being closed over cases of food poisoning.
In the worst cases, learners and teachers died after consuming contaminated food at the institution.
It took the intervention of the Ministries of Health and Education to address the menace.
