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ZIMBABWE: Cholera maybe making a comeback
26 Aug 2009 10:23:40 GMT
 Source: IRIN

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JOHANNESBURG, 25 August 2009 (IRIN) - The first cases of what might be another cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe are being investigated by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Zimbabwe officially declared the cholera outbreak that began in August 2008 at an end in July 2009, after the waterborne disease had killed more than 4,000 people and infected nearly 100,000 others.

According to local media reports, 12 people contracted cholera last week in Chibuwe district, near the town of Chipinge in Manicaland Province, about 300km southeast of the capital, Harare. No fatalities were reported.

The WHO representative in Zimbabwe, Custodia Mandlhate, told IRIN that laboratory tests were being conducted and "the next 24 to 48 hours" would determine whether the disease was cholera.

The 2008/09 cholera epidemic, the worst outbreak in Africa since 1994, was blamed on the country's dilapidated water and sanitation infrastructure, which provided ideal conditions for the disease to spread.

The infrastructure remains largely unrepaired and aid agencies have been warning that the onset of the rainy season, which usually begins in September or October, could spark another epidemic.

"The outbreak of cholera in Chibuwe has caused panic among community members and health personnel. The cases are sporadic, as they are reported in different villages. [The] nurse in charge at Chibuwe clinic fears that there is likely to be more cholera cases in the area," said an NGO alert on Zimonline, an internet-based news website.

Rian van de Braak, head of mission in Zimbabwe at the medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontières, told IRIN that cholera had not yet been confirmed and it was "hard to say" at this stage.

"It can be a couple of incidental cases [of cholera], or it can be start of the next one [epidemic]," she said. "Last time it started before the rainy season and in an urban setting. These [suspected] cases are in the rural areas. We [aid agencies] all expect cholera to return, and it can be at any moment."

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