News / Health
Typhoid outbreak spreads nationwide
28 Feb 2012 at 20:36hrs | Views
The typhoid outbreak has spread to other centres with more cases reported in two provinces. Government has indicated that it does not have adequate resources to deal with the outbreak.
Typhoid cases have since been reported in Bindura, Mashonaland Central and Norton and Zvimba in Mashonaland West.
Epidemiology and Disease Control director in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Dr Portia Manangazira said this when she appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Welfare.
Murehwa North legislator David Parirenyatwa chairs the committee.
Dr Manangazira said weekly reports on the outbreak show cases have risen from around 30 to more than 200.
"We actually have an outbreak that is raging, it is important to note that diarrhoeal cases usually precede serious outbreaks like what happened when we had that cholera outbreak," Dr Manangazira said.
She said in the past week, 93 new cases had been reported in Kuwadzana (20), Mufakose (31), Bindura 29 and Crowbrough (23).
Thirty-three more cases were reported in other areas through out the country. She attributed the outbreak to poor sanitation and lack of water. Dr Manangazira said there were poor sewer management systems at most local authorities.
"In Bindura, there is no water and there is very poor sanitation.
"These are the reasons why Harare was affected. The worrying thing is that at Bindura Hospital only two taps are working for usage by both patients and staff. They even use buckets to flush toilets," she said.
Dr Manangazira said water was only supplied for one hour in the morning and another hour in the evening in Bindura.
Government, Dr Manangazira said, did not have the capacity to deal with the outbreak.
"I regret to say we are not on top of the situation because if we were, we would have dealt with the problem in Bindura before the outbreak.
"If we look at a potential outbreak, we don't have the medicine to deal with it, for instance in Bindura we ran out of Ciprofloxacilin, a drug of choice," Dr Manangazira said.
Government, she said, has already identified some hotspots across the country. Some of them are Hopley, Tafara, Mabvuku, Kuwadzana and Dzivarasekwa in Harare while Units O, N and G in Chitungwiza have also been cited. In Mashonaland West, Makonde, Chegutu, Zvimba and Norton have are the hot spots.
In Mashonaland Central, high risk areas are Bindura, Mbire, Mt Darwin and Guruve. Since October last year, 3 074 suspected cases have been reported with one death recorded.
Typhoid cases have since been reported in Bindura, Mashonaland Central and Norton and Zvimba in Mashonaland West.
Epidemiology and Disease Control director in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare Dr Portia Manangazira said this when she appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Welfare.
Murehwa North legislator David Parirenyatwa chairs the committee.
Dr Manangazira said weekly reports on the outbreak show cases have risen from around 30 to more than 200.
"We actually have an outbreak that is raging, it is important to note that diarrhoeal cases usually precede serious outbreaks like what happened when we had that cholera outbreak," Dr Manangazira said.
She said in the past week, 93 new cases had been reported in Kuwadzana (20), Mufakose (31), Bindura 29 and Crowbrough (23).
Thirty-three more cases were reported in other areas through out the country. She attributed the outbreak to poor sanitation and lack of water. Dr Manangazira said there were poor sewer management systems at most local authorities.
"In Bindura, there is no water and there is very poor sanitation.
"These are the reasons why Harare was affected. The worrying thing is that at Bindura Hospital only two taps are working for usage by both patients and staff. They even use buckets to flush toilets," she said.
Dr Manangazira said water was only supplied for one hour in the morning and another hour in the evening in Bindura.
Government, Dr Manangazira said, did not have the capacity to deal with the outbreak.
"I regret to say we are not on top of the situation because if we were, we would have dealt with the problem in Bindura before the outbreak.
"If we look at a potential outbreak, we don't have the medicine to deal with it, for instance in Bindura we ran out of Ciprofloxacilin, a drug of choice," Dr Manangazira said.
Government, she said, has already identified some hotspots across the country. Some of them are Hopley, Tafara, Mabvuku, Kuwadzana and Dzivarasekwa in Harare while Units O, N and G in Chitungwiza have also been cited. In Mashonaland West, Makonde, Chegutu, Zvimba and Norton have are the hot spots.
In Mashonaland Central, high risk areas are Bindura, Mbire, Mt Darwin and Guruve. Since October last year, 3 074 suspected cases have been reported with one death recorded.
Source - TH
