The death toll from a suspected cholera outbreak in southern Sudan has risen to 68 but the fatality rate of the epidemic is on the decline, the United Nations’s health agency said on Tuesday.
”As of 19 February 2006, a total number of 2 933 cases and 68 deaths [case fatality rate 2,27%] of acute watery diarrhoea were reported in Southern Sudan,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement.
The outbreak has hit two major southern Sudanese towns, the administrative capital Juba and Yei near the border with Uganda.
Cholera was confirmed in a number of deadly diarrhoea cases.
The first case of acute watery diarrhoea was reported in Juba on February 6. The Sudanese authorities and WHO have formed a task force to combat the spread of the outbreak.
Health officials have warned of catastrophe if cholera spreads through Juba, a city of about 250 000 people that relies almost entirely on untreated water from the heavily-polluted Nile.
South Sudan, whose infrastructure was largely destroyed by a 21-year civil war, suffered deadly outbreaks of meningitis and yellow fever in recent months.
Cholera is a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease that thrives in conditions of poor hygiene and inadequate water supplies. It is generally caused by using dirty water for drinking and cooking.
It leads to severe diarrhoea, dehydration and sometimes death. – Sapa-AFP