FOUR people have died, while three others are admitted at
Chegutu District Hospital following a cholera outbreak in the town. The disease
has so far claimed more than 67 lives in Zambia.
Neither the victims nor the patients had recently travelled
to the neighbouring country. In an interview yesterday, Mashonaland West
provincial medical director Dr Wenceslaus Nyamayaro confirmed the outbreak.
He said 18 cases involving 11 men and seven women had been
recorded and attended to in the town. Three patients, including one who is in
critical condition, are admitted at the district hospital.
Dr Nyamayaro said the disease was discovered after 80-year-old
Laita Mungulisia of Pfupajena Township died on January 8 this year.
Three other relatives reportedly contracted the deadly
disease while performing religious rituals on the body.
“An 80-year-old lady, Laita Mungulisia, who was being seen
by a private physician for diabetes, hypertension and watery diarrhoea, died on
the 8th of January,” he said.
“Being a Moslem, she had a washout of the intestines, this
was carried out by the three men aged 47, 71 and 72.
“These men developed diarrhoea and vomiting after three
days — two of them died and were buried — and the same rituals were performed
without protection.”
One of the victims was admitted at Chegutu District
Hospital on January 17 and died a day later. Stool samples were sent for investigations and came out
positive for the cholera bacteria.
However, bodies of the dead had already been released to
relatives for burial, exposing more people to the disease.
Authorities have, however, identified poor water supplies
in the town as the cause of the outbreak, as some areas are going for three to
four days without water.
Residents have resorted to vandalising pipes to access
treated water.
“There is critical shortage of potable water and there is
leakage of sewer pipes.
“People sometimes go for three to four days without water,”
Dr Nyamayaro said.
“People are vandalising underground water pipes and this
results in suctioning of sewerage waste into the water system when there is no
water.”
He said control of the outbreak will be difficult without
the issue of reliable water supplies being addressed.
Chegutu suffered its worst cholera outbreak in 2009 when
about 200 cases were recorded, leading to the death of at least 30 people.
Investigations by The Herald, however, indicated that those
currently affected by the disease never travelled outside Chegutu.
The town’s health authorities are now investigating the
source of the outbreak.
The outbreak comes when Government has stepped up cholera
control in Kariba and Chirundu border towns in order to forestall transmissions
from travellers to Zambia.
At least 3 000 people have been treated for cholera in
Zambia.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa
recently said Zimbabwe was on high alert and had since reactivated its
emergency response teams to deal with any case that might arise.
He said Government had also stepped up awareness campaigns,
particularly on buses leaving Harare for Zambia and Malawi.
Malawi has recorded cases of cholera in Lilongwe.
Meanwhile, Chegutu West House of Assembly member Cde Dexter
Nduna has urged Government to come up with concrete steps to address perennial
water shortages in the town. Herald
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