Cholera kills 21 in Mali

2004-05-20 14:16

Bamako - A cholera outbreak has killed 21 people in two weeks in a village in the north of the mainly desert west African state of Mali, the health ministry announced on Thursday.

In all, 93 cholera cases were registered over the same period in Tla village, a ministry official said. The village head man was among those who died in an outbreak which "spread in record time".

Malian Health Minister Maiga Zeinab Mint Youba has gone to the village, 350km north of Bamako, to see the people and present them with the condolences of the government, the ministry said.

The outbreak was caused by the contamination of two large wells by a local person who had returned from a different area, according to the ministry. The government has purified the water supply and the outbreak is under control.

At the beginning of the year, 11 of 156 people infected by the bacterial disease died in Mali's central Mopti region.

The government epidemiological service in March registered more than two thosuand cases nationwide between August 2003 and February 2004, of which 177 cases were fatal, according to press reports.

- AFP