Cholera outbreak claims 21 in Mbale
Cholera patients at a make-shift facility in Zombo District. The epidemic has since spread to Mbale.
What you need to know:
On Wednesday, reports indicated that up to 100 people had succumbed to the same sickness countrywide, with thousands being hospitalised at different health units.
Mbale
Authorities in Mbale District have ordered the closure of all eating places that do not meet minimum health standards following another cholera outbreak that has left three people dead and seven others admitted at the cholera treatment centre in Mbale Municipality.
This is the third cholera outbreak in a spell of one month in the district that has so far, according to medical reports, killed 21 people. In February, three died and about 63 were admitted.
The district health officer, Dr John Baptist Waniaye, told Sunday Monitor a week ago that most of the victims were admitted at Namatala cholera treatment centre and that the district health technical team and Uganda Red Cross have already issued warnings to people to stop buying cooked food and drinks sold along the streets.
Some case unaccounted for
“We confirmed cholera early this month, although some people who had died before had been buried without our knowledge, we have admitted about 41 and immediately informed the Ministry of Health to intervene but the outbreak is on and off,” Dr Waniaye said.
This outbreak comes at a time when the district is experiencing heavy rains that have flooded rivers, streams and destroyed pit latrines in Mbale Municipality.
Dr Waniaye warned against burial rituals that are likely to orchestrate the spread of cholera in the district.
“We must stop washing bodies if they have died of cholera. Let us allow the medical workers to bury them with precaution as we keep away if we are to save ourselves from cholera,” he said.
Meanwhile, health authorities in the district have embarked on a sensitisation drive, preaching to the masses against defecating or bathing in rivers, open wells and other sources of drinking water in the area. But residents accused municipality council authorities of failure to collect garbage pass by-laws on eating joints and food vending.
Uganda Red Cross Regional Coordinator for Mbale area Elidad Wamukota said when he visited Namalogo, Kimasu, Kasanvu and Busamaga villages in the suburbs of Mbale Municipality, and Bukasakya, Namanyonyi and Doko-Kisanja sub-counties, he found out that the hygiene and sanitation was wanting and that the pit-latrine coverage was so poor.
“Almost every home does not have a pit-latrine, people go to the bushes and coupled with the heavy rains, these areas can’t escape cholera. Even the centre of the municipal council could witness this outbreak anytime if garbage is not collected in time and sewerage lines repaired,” Mr Wamukota said yesterday.
