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A FRESH suspected typhoid outbreak has hit Mutare, with four cases reported on Tuesday at a time the province appeared to be winning the battle against the disease at Regina Coeli Mission School. The outbreak in Nyanga, which left about 20 students hospitalised, is now under control following swift and timely life-saving interventions by aid agencies.
Provincial Medical Director, Dr Patron Mafaune, on Wednesday disclosed that the situation in Nyanga was under control, adding that cases being handled in Mutare were “imported ones”.
She said investigations were in progress to establish if all reported cases in Mutare were “imported” or “occasioned” by the local authority’s failure to provide safe and adequate drinking water to its suburbs, which often go for months without the precious liquid.
Dr Mafaune said they have since collected samples from affected patients for laboratory tests in Harare.
She said the Regina Coeli students have been discharged from hospital and since then, there have been no fresh incidents.
“Major cases were the ones reported at Regina Coeli and I am glad to inform the public that the situation is now under control following interventions by aid agencies.
“The cases being handled in Mutare were imported ones. We have taken samples from all the affected patients for clinical tests to establish if it is typhoid or not, and until the results are out, it remains clinical suspicion,” said Dr Mafaune.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control blames poor clean water supplies as the major cause of typhoid.
Typhoid is a bacterial water-borne disease transmitted by the intake of food or water contaminated with faeces from an infected person. Dr Mafaune said since January, the Regina Coeli area has seen sporadic outbreaks of the bacterial and water-borne disease.
The patients are referred to Regina Coeli Mission Hospital which is within the school premises — posing a great risk of contracting the disease to boarding students. When The Manica Post visited the mission last Friday, a church service was being held in Ward M1, which was being attended by admitted patients as well as hospital authorities.
Both hospital and school authorities remained tight-lipped and referred further inquiries to their superiors in Mutare citing protocol.
However, interviewed villagers, said poor sanitation and the porous Zimbabwe-Mozambique border were the major contributing factors to the outbreak of the disease in Nyanga.
Mr Wonder Muchamiri said the most affected areas were Magadu, Nzvenga and Dodzo areas.
“Most of these areas have no boreholes. Most villagers rely on open wells and rivers as sources of water. Our proximity to Mozambique is also a major challenge. Some of the diseases are being imported from our eastern neighbours, but health authorities here always encourage us to practise sound hygienic practices,” he said.
Another villager, Mr Tapiwa Hondo, said: “The other major contributing factor is that most people resort to the bush toilet system especially during the rain season because of the distance between our homes and fields.
“We spend most of our time away from our homes tending to our fields where there are no proper ablution facilities. When someone wants to answer the call of nature, he or she is forced to use the nearest point, which is the bush.”
Dr Mafaune concurred: “We have cases where the community was drawing drinking water from Kairezi River. We are grateful that our partners did very well by responding and assisting our personnel in Nyanga to put the situation under control,” said Dr Mafaune.
The Manica Post also understands that schools such as Bumhira, Nyamaropa, Kambudzi, Regina Coeli, Kute, Crossdale and Chimhanda have been affected as students consumed contaminated water from Kairezi River.
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