At least 48 people have died in a fresh outbreak of cholera that has infected about 3 000 people in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, an official said Friday.
New cholera outbreaks have hit the coastal districts of Macomia and Mocimboa da Praia, and the provincial capital Pemba, deputy national health director Avertino Barreto said.
Macomia has seen the highest death toll at 29, with another 16 in Mocimboa da Praia and three in Pemba, he said.
But Barreto said Mocimboa da Praia town and the surrounding area required more attention because of its poor water supply.
No new cases of the water-borne disease have been reported elsewhere in this southeastern African state, where cholera is endemic with more outbreaks usually during the rainy season.
In the last two years, hundreds of people have died of cholera in southern and central Mozambique following catastrophic floods.
This year, Mozambique faces drought instead, along with neighboring Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Mozambique has issued an alert for meningitis, which is also endemic here, particularly in Cabo Delgado and neighboring Nampula province.
The last major outbreak of meningitis was four years ago, when 5 000 people caught the disease and 300 died. – Sapa-AFP