'Don't shake hands'
2006-02-07 13:40
Harare - Cholera is still a threat in Zimbabwe and more cases of the deadly disease are coming to light, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The paper said new cases of cholera had been reported in the eastern Buhera district and in Harare, although it did not give figures.
At least 14 people are known to have died of cholera since Christmas, three of them in the capital.
So serious is the cholera threat that Health Minister David Parirenyatwa has told Zimbabweans not to shake hands because they could contract the disease.
Parirenyatwa said: "I am sorry, but I think I have to tell people that the time to just shake hands with everyone is gone, even at funerals, maybe people need to start expressing sympathy in a different manner from what they are used to."
The minister has urged people to be careful when buying fruit and fish. The three Harare victims are believed to have died after eating fish confiscated from illegal vendors and then sold by the police.
"A death warrant"
Parirenyatwa said: "Buying meat and fish whose origins one is not even sure of is like signing a death warrant at this time when cholera cases continue cropping up here and there."
Cholera, a disease characterised by violent diarrhoea and vomiting, spreads quickly in the rainy season especially in places where public sanitation systems are poor. There have been at least 250 reported cases of cholera so far this season in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) this weekend said it was concerned about the ongoing cholera threat and castigated the authorities for their "knee-jerk" reaction to the problem.
Harare's biggest open-air market, Mbare Msika, was closed for around two weeks last month after the authorities said piles of rubbish and unhygienic conditions there made it a public health threat.
- SAPA