adminPaidamoyo Chipunza Senior Health Reporter
Harare City Council is on high alert for cholera following the death of two people in Stoneridge last week.
City health acting director Dr Clemence Duri said they were in the process of tracing all people who came into contact with the two deceased persons — a father and his daughter — and is closely monitoring them.
He said they were also working closely with Mashonaland East province, where the two were buried.
“The two burials were supervised and we are closely monitoring all people who came in contact with the deceased persons in conjunction with Mashonaland West province,” said Dr Duri.
He said Harare City Council was also trying to establish the source of the outbreak, but believes it could have been a contaminated water source from which they were fetching drinking water.
Dr Duri said they were also making sure that there was adequate and clean water supplies in the affected areas, as well as imparting health education to communities, particularly in high density suburbs.
“There has been a lot of effort by the city to ensure that there is adequate water supplies in high density suburbs as that has been the source of cholera outbreaks in the past, with people resorting to unsafe water sources,” said Dr Duri.
Cholera is a bacterial disease usually spread through contaminated water. It causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration.
Left untreated, cholera can be fatal in a matter of hours, even in previously healthy people.
Last month, the city reported another case of cholera in a 12-yea
Online Reporter