Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe

A cholera outbreak has hit Chiredzi with five cases recorded so far, Masvingo provincial medical superintended Dr Robert Mudyirandima has said.Dr Mudyirandima said the five cases were of members from the same family.

"We are not yet sure of the source of the outbreak, but we suspect that a member of the family could have travelled outside the district or they had a visitor who passed on bacteria to them," he said.

Dr Mudyirandima dismissed suspicion that the bacteria could have been in drinking water, saying people in that community got water from a common source.

He said if it was in drinking water, more people could have been affected instead of one family.

Dr Mudyirandima said the outbreak has since been contained.

"Our teams are on the ground to respond to any case that might come up," he said.

According to the weekly disease surveillance report, the latest outbreak brings the number of recorded cholera cases to 11 since the beginning of the year.

The last cases of cholera were reported in March in Beitbridge and Chiredzi.

Recently, Government warned and urged health authorities to be on high alert for diarrhoeal diseases, saying the rainy season could trigger more cases.

Over 500 people have died of dysentery, typhoid or common diarrhoea since the beginning of the year, while half a million others have been treated in the same period.

Health authorities have always been calling for improved hygiene, water and sanitation, provision of safe adequate water and timely refuse collection to curtail occurrence of diarrhoeal diseases.