News / National
Harare hit by a new wave of Typhoid
24 Jan 2012 at 04:48hrs | Views
OVER 600 Harare residents, among them a hotel worker, have been diagnosed of typhoid while 90 of them were admitted at the Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospitals for treatment. This has heightened fears the disease has spread into the city centre.
Council has since confirmed the outbreak.
"We have confirmed that the disease is typhoid. It has been caused by contaminated foodstuffs sold in the open. We took samples of raw, cooked meat and fish from a shopping centre in Kuwadzana.
"All the samples had salmonella typhi. One of the confirmed cases is a person who works in a city hotel. If people eat food handled by the person, they risk contracting typhoid," said city health director Dr Prosper Chonzi.
He ruled out water as the cause of the outbreak, saying the city's water and sanitation levels were satisfactory.
Dr Chonzi urged residents to boil water for domestic use, including treating it with aqua tablets. The tablets are available for free at all council clinics.
He said there was one confirmed case of typhoid involving a hotel employee, heightening fears that if effective hygiene is not practiced, the spread of typhoid could be much higher than the city can contain.
Dr Chonzi said all TB patients at the hospital have been transferred to Wilkins Hospital to create space for the typhoid patients and to avoid cross contamination.
Council doctors and nurses have been deployed to all affected suburbs that include Warren Park, Kambuzuma and Dzivaresekwa.
Harare Water has been directed to keep water flowing in high-density suburbs.
He said health officials were on high alert.
Last week, Dr Chonzi told a special council meeting that patients from Kuwadzana were much sicker than those from other suburbs.
Most of the patients were feverish and complained of abdominal pain.
The World Health Organisation has identified typhoid as a serious public health problem. It is a common bacteria disease caused by the bacterium salmonella typhi. He said Kuwadzana had reliable water supply and hygiene in terms of sewers was satisfactory.
According to expert information on typhoid, most people show symptoms one to three weeks after exposure with symptoms being fever, headaches, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, constipation, poor appetite, lethargy and delirium.
Council has since confirmed the outbreak.
"We have confirmed that the disease is typhoid. It has been caused by contaminated foodstuffs sold in the open. We took samples of raw, cooked meat and fish from a shopping centre in Kuwadzana.
"All the samples had salmonella typhi. One of the confirmed cases is a person who works in a city hotel. If people eat food handled by the person, they risk contracting typhoid," said city health director Dr Prosper Chonzi.
He ruled out water as the cause of the outbreak, saying the city's water and sanitation levels were satisfactory.
Dr Chonzi urged residents to boil water for domestic use, including treating it with aqua tablets. The tablets are available for free at all council clinics.
He said there was one confirmed case of typhoid involving a hotel employee, heightening fears that if effective hygiene is not practiced, the spread of typhoid could be much higher than the city can contain.
Dr Chonzi said all TB patients at the hospital have been transferred to Wilkins Hospital to create space for the typhoid patients and to avoid cross contamination.
Council doctors and nurses have been deployed to all affected suburbs that include Warren Park, Kambuzuma and Dzivaresekwa.
Harare Water has been directed to keep water flowing in high-density suburbs.
He said health officials were on high alert.
Last week, Dr Chonzi told a special council meeting that patients from Kuwadzana were much sicker than those from other suburbs.
Most of the patients were feverish and complained of abdominal pain.
The World Health Organisation has identified typhoid as a serious public health problem. It is a common bacteria disease caused by the bacterium salmonella typhi. He said Kuwadzana had reliable water supply and hygiene in terms of sewers was satisfactory.
According to expert information on typhoid, most people show symptoms one to three weeks after exposure with symptoms being fever, headaches, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, constipation, poor appetite, lethargy and delirium.
Source - TH
