Cholera spreads

A cholera outbreak is spreading in Southern Africa, with reports of cases in South Africa’s commercial heartland Gauteng and in neighbouring Swaziland. SAPA said the Gauteng health department on Thursday reported two suspected cases of the waterborne disease, which has so far mainly affected coastal KwaZulu-Natal. SAPA said eastern Mpumalanga province on Thursday opened an emergency isolation ward to treat 10 cholera cases. Swazi authorities on Thursday reported six deaths from cholera, after the epidemic crossed into the landlocked country from South Africa. In eastern Swaziland, Lubombo regional health inspector Sipho Shongwe said that local hospitals were admitting up to five new cholera cases per day, the African Eye news service reported. Shongwe said the isolated Kalanga area appeared to be the hardest hit because villagers had limited access to piped water or sewerage systems and instead depended on local rivers for drinking water. Meanwhile, at least five people have died in a cholera outbreak in Mozambique’s capital Maputo in recent weeks. Maputo city health director Olivia Ferreira told the daily ‘Noticias’ that between 40 and 50 cholera patients have been admitted to hospital every day over the last couple of weeks. The majority of the cases were from the suburbs of Chamanculo, Malanga, Maxaquene, Luis Cabral and Minkadjuine where sanitary facilities were poor. Many of the country’s urban centres are vulnerable to cholera and malaria epidemics during rainy seasons which run from November to April, AFP reported. The water-borne disease killed more than 100 people last year following the devastating floods in February and March.