Cholera patient dies in Musina

2008-11-20 11:38

Musina - A man from Zimbabwe has died of cholera in Musina, the first fatality since the outbreak of the illness in the Limpopo border town last weekend, the provincial department of health said.

Health spokesperson Phuti Seloba said the man died on arrival at a local clinic on Wednesday.

Three other people were also admitted to hospital on Wednesday with cholera. They were in stable condition, he said.

Their admissions brought to 17 the number of people hospitalised with cholera in Musina, while another 72 had been treated in the area since the weekend.

Rehydration

Selobi said that when hospitalisation was not necessary, people were treated at a rehydration centre near the border.

On Wednesday, a truck driver who had arrived in Durban from Zimbabwe at the weekend was diagnosed with cholera.

Provincial health spokesperson Leon Mbangwa said the man had been placed in an isolation ward in Durban's Addington Hospital.

Earlier this week, news agency Agence France Presse reported that there had been 73 cholera deaths in Zimbabwe in the latest outbreak, which was caused by the breakdown of sanitation in the country.

AFP reported that, according to Doctors Without Borders, up to 1.4 million people in Zimbabwe were at risk of contracting the water-borne disease.

- SAPA