Cholera spreads in Cibitoke Province

Cibitoke provincial health authorities have said that four of the 215 people who have contracted cholera in the area between 2 July and 19 August have died, and that overcoming the disease in this part of the country had become difficult. "The greatest problem is that one cannot fight the disease where there is no water," Dr Jean-Paul Nyarushatsi, the director of the health ministry, said. The outbreak, which had affected the communes of Murwi, Mabayi and Buganda, probably originated in Rwanda, finding a fertile environment in the area, whose water supply had been cut off by the local power utility, Regideso, he added. "Regideso cut off the water because the communes had not paid their arrears," Nyarushatsi said. Nationwide, the health ministry reported that as at 5 August there were 577 cases, among them eight deaths, since the outbreak began on 17 June, with most of the cases occurring in Bujumbura Rurale. Nyarushatsi said the health authorities in Cibitoke and the NGO Concern were helping the victims. Residents were being encouraged to bring the sick to health centres and to spray their homes with disinfectants. The World Health Organisation describes cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It has a short incubation period, from less than one day to five days, and produces an enterotoxin that causes a copious, painless, watery diarrhoea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given. Vomiting also occurs in most patients.