18 November 2008
Maputo — The cholera outbreak in Guro district, in the central Mozambican province of Manica, which began in late October, has now spread to new areas surrounding the villages of Chinda, Thanda, Bunga, and Nhamassonje, but no new deaths were recorded, reports Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily 'Noticias'.
Guro district administrator Deolinda Bengula told reporters that there were 17 people hospitalised at the Cholera Treatment Centre in Chinda on Monday, while eight others had been transferred from Thanda and Bunga to Changara, in neighbouring Tete province.
Bengula lamented that, despite the government's efforts to control the disease, it has spread to new areas, and the authorities have to double their efforts at prevention and open new centres for assistance to the patients.
Guro chief doctor Albertino Zunza, who is in Chinda with the medical team working in the treatment centre, said that 13 new patients had been admitted by Sunday, rising to 17 by Monday.
The traditional chiefs in Thanda and Bunga said that three and four cases respectively had been reported as suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, the main symptoms of cholera, and were transferred to Changara. Bengula promised to visit Thanda and Bunga, to learn first hand thje situation in these areas.
The health authorities are also strengthening prevention measures, such as distribution of chlorine to disinfect water, and awareness campaigns among the residents about individual and collective hygiene.
Since the outbreak of the disease in Guro, which is blamed on the consumption of untreated water, 200 cases have been diagnosed, with a total of 53 deaths.
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