FOUR cases of typhoid have been recorded in Kasama and Mungwi districts, Northern provincial medical officer Jelita Chinyonga has confirmed.

The disease is transmitted by ingestion of food or water contaminated with faecal matter.

Three cases were recorded in Mungwi, Lwabwe, and Kasama while the fourth victim, though admitted to Kasama General Hospital, travelled from Lusaka.

Dr Chinyonga said health officials in the province had already begun sensitising communities on the disease to ensure it did not spread.

The bacterium which causes typhoid fever may be spread through poor hygiene habits and public sanitation conditions, and by flying insects feeding on body waste.

Dr Chinyonga said public education campaigns encouraging people to wash their hands after using the lavatory and before handling food were an important component in controlling the spread of the disease.

The disease has been classified as an outbreak because typhoid is not endemic to the area.