Cholera kills 87 people

Eighty-seven people have died of cholera in Mozambique since the beginning of the year, the World Health Organisation (WHO)reported on Tuesday. As of 15 June 2003, 11,796 cases were reported by the Ministry of Public Health in Mozambique, the organisation said. Maputo province in the south of the country registered the highest number of cases at 4,124, with 31 deaths. The report noted that the peak of the outbreak in Maputo province occurred at the same time as a cholera outbreak in Mpumalanga in neighbouring South Africa, and northern Hohho in Swaziland, which also borders Mpumalanga. The risk of continued cross-border infections has prompted WHO to propose cross-border initiatives to control the outbreaks. A total of 2,004 cases, including 29 deaths, were reported in Gaza province further north in Mozambique and 2,812 cases, including 14 deaths, in Sofala province in the centre of the country. Gaza, Sofala and Maputo were among the areas most severely affected by drought and food shortages earlier this year, which have left many communities without clean water and adequate nutrition required to fight infections and illnesses. Cholera is an acute bacterial infection of the intestine, caused by ingesting food or water contaminated by bacteria from the faeces or vomit of infected people. Symptoms include acute watery diarrhoea and vomiting, which can result in severe dehydration. When left untreated, death can occur rapidly. A recent World Vision report said only 37 percent of Mozambique's population had access to potable water.