By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Health has confirmed that two more people have died from the cholera outbreak as the country grapples with the acute diarrhoeal disease, bringing the total number of deaths to 24.
Department of Health national spokersperson Foster Mohale said the latest two people who succumbed to the waterborne disease are from Gauteng.
Hammanskraal – north of Pretoria has been the hardest-hit area countrywide since cholera was declared an official outbreak last weekend.
A total of 44 laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera have been seen at Jubilee District Hospital, the Gauteng health department said in an update on the outbreak in the Hammanskraal area.
By 6pm on Thursday, 203 patients had been seen at the hospital, including 22 patients who have been transferred to other health facilities in Tshwane.
There are 74 patients admitted for treatment due to gastrointestinal infection.
Health authorities are yet to confirm the exact source of the cholera outbreak, but poor waste water management and local government instability in South Africa’s capital city have been blamed for the situation. The City of Tshwane Municipality, which takes in Pretoria and surrounding areas, has had at least five different mayors since the ruling African National Congress party lost control in local government elections in 2016.
Cholera can cause acute diarrhoea, vomiting and weakness and is mainly spread by contaminated food or water. It can kill within hours if untreated.
South Africa recorded its first two cholera cases in February on the back of outbreaks in nearby Mozambique and Malawi, the two most severely affected countries in 2023, according to the United Nations.
Zimbabwean health authorities have confirmed nine recent deaths with another 28 suspected cholera deaths since February. The Ministry of Health said it had recorded 1,404 suspected cholera cases and 359 laboratory-confirmed cases.
Malawi reported earlier this year that more than 1,000 people had died in a widespread outbreak that started in March 2022. It is Malawi’s worst cholera outbreak in 20 years, WHO said, with more than 36,000 cases.
Cholera is a water-borne disease caused by ingesting contaminated food or water. The infection is extremely virulent, although it can be easily treated once identified.
The NGO Gift of the Givers has distributed more than 3,200 sealed 5-litre water bottles to the Hammanskraal community’s local Jubilee Hospital and surrounding clinics where patients are being treated.