Typhoid outbreak strikes Zimbabwe

According to Harare City director of health services, most of the victims ate fish from a lake on the outskirts of Harare which environmentalists say has been heavily polluted by sewage.

A fresh typhoid outbreak in the Zimbabwean capital Harare has left 600 residents infected and 90 hospitalised in the past few days.

Authorities warned that the outbreak that had been initially confined to populated suburbs was fast spreading to the entire city after a hotel employee was hospitalised.

“We have confirmed that the disease is typhoid. It has been caused by contaminated foodstuffs sold in the open,” said Dr Prosper Chonzi, the city’s director of health services.

“One of the confirmed cases is a person who works in a city hotel. If people eat food handled by the person, they risk contracting typhoid.”

Typhoid is a common bacterial disease caused by the bacterium salmonella typhi.

The outbreak in Harare has been worsened by collapsing sewer infrastructure with authorities saying water samples taken from the worst affected area showed that it contained human waste.

Symptoms of the disease include fever, headaches, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, constipation and poor appetite.
Dr Chonzi warned that if effective hygiene is not practiced, the outbreak could be much higher than the city can contain.

“We have attended to over 600 cases in one suburb alone. “We have not recorded any death,” he said.
He said most of the victims ate fish from a lake on the outskirts of Harare, which environmentalists say has been heavily polluted by sewage flowing from the capital.