89 dead in south Sudan cholera outbreak

Feb 27, 2006 (CAIRO) — The death toll from a suspected cholera outbreak in southern Sudan has risen to 89 amid continued efforts to stem the epidemic, the World Health Organisation said in a statement Monday.

The UN’s health agency said 4,906 cases of acute watery diarrhea were reported, 89 of them fatal, over the past month.

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 diarrhea cases.

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 places with poor hygiene and inadequate water supplies. It is generally caused by using dirty water for drinking and cooking.

It leads to severe diarrhea, dehydration and sometimes death.

(ST/AFP)