Kampala — TWENTY people have died and 90 others admitted in the last four months following a typhoid outbreak in Kasese district in western Uganda.

The latest deaths were of four people, who died last week in Kyabarungira sub-county.

The sub-county chief, Steven Kabau, said the dead included two students of Kuruhe High School, a Primary Six pupil of Kyabarungira Primary School and a catering graduate.

The district health officer, Dr. Peter Mukobi, said: "More people are believed to have died of typhoid, though their cases have not been reported."

Mukobi said it was difficult to diagnose typhoid.

He added: "The problem with typhoid is that patients show symptoms of malaria at the beginning. In most cases, by the time one realises that it is typhoid it is too late," Mukobi explained.

He called for the need to the disease before it escalates.

According to the World Health Organisation, typhoid fever is a bacterial disease transmitted through the ingestion of food or drink contaminated with faeces or urine of infected people.

Its symptoms include high fever, headache, constipation or diarrhoea, rose-coloured spots on the chest and an enlarged spleen and liver.

The acting commissioner general of health services, Dr. Dawson Mbulamberi, said the health ministry was monitoring the situation to avoid the spread of the disease.

The director general of health services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, advised the people to improve their hygiene.

Additional reporting by John Nzinjah