Zanzibar health officials are expecting test results of a mysterious diarrhea that has so far killed seven children and hospitalized 454 other children in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Health officials said that they were expecting laboratory test results on the cause of the outbreak of diarrhea since late June, according to reports reaching here on Monday.

Local health workers are busy working on the mystery why only children fell prey to the outbreak of killing diarrhea.

In the first half of this year, Zanzibar has been harassed by cholera that also causes diarrhea as well as vomiting.

But tests done on sick children so far have also indicated causes other than cholera.

"Most of the cases were of severe dysentery and diarrhea but there's no trace or symptoms of cholera yet," said Omar Suleiman, director of information policy in the Zanzibar ministry of health and social welfare.

Source: Xinhua