A seven-year-old boy was on Wednesday rushed to Kiambu Level 5 Hospital after a rat bit his toes and the area around his eye.
Residents of Thome Estate in Kasarani were shocked by the incident. The boy was treated and discharged.
He was asleep alongside his mother and younger sibling when the rodent struck.
No one else was bitten. “We are three in the family and we all sleep in the same bed. Up to now, I still do not understand how rats would eat him up,” his mother Evelyn Odhiambo told the Star.
Prior to the incident, her second-born son was suffering from bone and eye disease.
Good samaritans moved the family to another home to avoid a similar incident in future. Some residents termed the incident witchcraft.
“I have never heard of a rat chewing a human being. The family should ask for prayers from religious leaders because that is unusual,” a resident said.
Rats transmit diseases if they bite, scratch humans or leave urine around the home. One would likely suffer from Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV)- a viral infectious disease that is transmitted through the urine and saliva of rats.
