Cholera outbreak hits Malawi capital Lilongwe: Kamuzu Central Hospital confirms

Director at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe, Dr Jonathan Ngoma has confirmed the two cases of the deadly waterborne disease cholera at the facility.

The cholera cases were reported from the highly populated township of Kauma and there are fears other locations of Mtsiriza, Mtandile and Kaliyeka are at risk.

Ngoma said KCH has since put up tents for a “quarantine ward” to isolate patients suspected to have cholera.

He said one of the patients has since been discharged.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Joshua Malango said the hospital were testing samples from a suspected cholera case to ascertain if indeed the disease has emerged in the city.

“We have registered two cases from Kauma, one has since been discharged and another still  on treatment,” confirmed Malango.

According to Malango, the patient on treatment is a 50-year-old man who sleeps rough with livestock.

“The man sleeps in the same room with goats and might have become contaminated in that manner,” said Malango.

He urged people to be cautious and practise safe hygiene following reports of a cholera outbreak.

Meanwhile, the number of total cholera cases reported in the country’s hospital has reached 129.

For many decades, Malawi has been struggling with cholera.

The country registered the highest cholera cases in 2008/09 where 3 250 cases and 82 deaths were recorded.  Since then the trend has been declining.

However, a higher number of cases were also registered in 2015/2016 as over 1 786 and 58 deaths were reported in the 14 affected districts.

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