Cholera outbreak hits Tanzania: Karonga at risk with suspected three cases
Health authorities in Malawi’s northern district of Karonga which borders Tanzania are closely monitoring three patients who are showing signs of cholera few days after they received an alert from Kyera a neighboring district in Tanzania about cholera outbreak there.
District Health Officer Michael Kayange told Nyasa Times that they received an alert message two days ago about cholera outbreak in Kyera Township which has so far claimed lives of three people while 21 others are admitted at the hospital.
“It was on Tuesday when we received that our neighboring country has cholera out break and it is obvious that the disease will be transferred to Karonga because most Karonga people go to Kyera for shopping,” said Kayange. Adding that, “so far we are having three suspected cases which have symptoms of cholera and we are now managing them as cholera cases but we are yet to confirm.”
He added that the three suspected cases are said to have eaten food bought from Kyera.
“One of the suspected cases is said to have taken a local beer in Kyera and the other one had eaten flitters in Kaporo an indication that Karonga is at risk to have the outbreak if we are not very careful,” says Kayange.
He further said although in mean time they have put some measurements to prevent the spread of the disease they also depend on people to avoid going or taking food prepared in Kyera.
“We have banned all open selling points in Karonga north and as I am telling you now we are confiscating all foods that people are openly selling and we are advising people not eat anything bought from Kyera until the outbreak is controlled,” warns Kayange.
He said they have now mobilized resources in all the health centers to treat any suspected cholera cases.
He then appealed to people to comply with the new laws that they have put in place saying the disease is dangerous and it kills within seconds.
