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Cholera horror strikes Zim
14/05/2006 14:40 - (SA)
Harare - Fifteen people are believed to have died from cholera in northern Zimbabwe, the first reported outbreak of the highly infectious diarrhoeal disease since February, the official Sunday Mail said.
The latest deaths from suspected cholera were in the rural district of Kachuta, in northern Zimbabwe, the paper said.
The Sunday Mail said the first death occurred early this week after a man from Kachuta ate contaminated fish. Others who attended his funeral contracted the disease, resulting in the disease spreading to neighbouring areas, the paper said.
"The ministry of health and child welfare dispatched health personnel to the affected areas on Tuesday while the Civil Protection Unit held a meeting yesterday after visiting the affected areas," the paper said. The deaths have not yet been officially confirmed.
At least 24 people, including eight in the capital Harare, died from cholera between December and February, a situation that has worried the authorities.
In an effort to curb cholera outbreaks, the government in January banned the sale of meat and fish by street vendors and temporarily shut down the country's biggest fresh produce market in the Harare suburb of Mbare.
The health ministry also advised mourners attending funerals not to shake hands with each other - a sure way of spreading infection.
Clean water is a scarce resource in many parts of rural Zimbabwe. And this week Health Minister David Parirenyatwa was reported by official media as saying only 38 percent of Zimbabwe's rural population - where the majority of the country's 11.6 million people live - has access to proper sanitation facilities.
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Zimbabwe Special Report
