Cholera claims 10 in Guinea
2004-09-17 17:25
Conakry - An outbreak of cholera has killed at least 10 people out of 30 recorded cases in central Guinea, health officials said on Friday.
The outbreak, which has been contained, affected primarily children and the elderly, a doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP from the town of Pita, 400km northeast of the capital.
Medicine was swiftly dispatched to the area and the most severe cases were taken to hospital in Conakry in a bid to determine the origins of the outbreak.
Cholera has made a resurgence this year owing to heavy rains across the region that have helped to spread the water-borne bacterial illness.
Signs of cholera include cramping, nausea and diarrhoea. The disease can be fatal without treatment.
Doctors blame "unhygienic practices" of most people for cholera transmission, imploring them to wash their hands after using the toilet and to take greater care in preparing and handling food.
Guinea's southern neighbour Sierra Leone has been battling its own deadly cholera outbreak, the first in the war-ravaged country in more than four years, but health officials there said last week that it appears to have been brought under control.
More than 60 people have died since early August, mostly in and around the capital Freetown, where the already decrepit sanitation system was overwhelmed by more than a month of torrential rain that sent raw sewage seeping into the streets.
Western Guinea was hit by a cholera outbreak in June of last year, which claimed 83 lives from 183 reported cases.