OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Johannesburg | Friday
FEARS that the cholera epidemic ravaging KwaZulu-Natal might spread to the rest of South Africa have heightened with reports of the disease in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and in neighbouring Swaziland.
At least six people have died in Swaziland after the epidemic crossed into the tiny kingdom from KwaZulu-Natal, where 57 people have died and close to 14 000 been infected.
Health authorities in three provinces have been placed on full alert, and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has called for an “urgent strategy” to prevent the disease from spreading when migrant workers and holiday makers left to return to their home provinces.
Swaziland health minister Dr Phetsile Dlamini said authorities were conducting emergency meetings with residents in affected areas to curb any further spread of the disease. Local hospitals were admitting up to five new cholera cases per day.
Mpumalanga this week opened an emergency isolation ward at the Rob Ferreira hospital in Nelspruit to treat 10 cholera cases. The patients, from the Elandshoek area, are believed to have contracted the disease after a youth was infected by a visiting Mozambican traveller. The defence force has been sent in to supply the 400-strong community with fresh water.
Health authorities in Mpumalanga have warned rural villagers not to use water from either the Elands or Crocodile rivers following indications that they are contaminated by cholera.
The Elands River feeds into the Crocodile, which is Mpumalanga’s largest and most important river and runs the length of the province before crossing into Mozambique.
The 400 estimated villagers living in Elandshoek all depend on the Elands River for drinking water. There is also no sewerage system or local clinic in the area, prompting health authorities to treat the Elands River as contaminated.
The Gauteng health department reported two suspected cases for which laboratory tests were still awaited. Both cases could be linked to KwaZulu-Natal.
In the Free State, health authorities were put on full cholera alert, and efforts were under way to inform the public of preventive measures, the provincial health department said.