Third region threatened by cholera, 3000 now affected

Written by Halim Douda

Tuesday, 24 August 2010 18:12

Cholera GAROUA—Adamawa was bracing for a cholera outbreak Tuesday as the epidemic kept spreading through the newly hit North region.

Officials were forced to deal with a new front in Garoua, just days after announcing that the worst cholera epidemic to hit the country in ten years had been contained.

The number of infected people kept rising in the Far North region where it all started more that three months ago, with 90 new cases reported over the past 24 hours.

A crowded prison of some 1500 inmates in central Maroua, the regional capital, turned up several cases and health workers feared it could ravage the yard.

In Garoua, the outbreak that started last Friday rapidly moved from seven cases to about 35 cases in three days. Three people have died there.

Authorities in Ngoundere Monday began holding meetings to prepare for an outbreak or at best prevent one.

Meantime the government is counting on education to stop the spread definitively.

The minister of communication has pledged that state-run media would open up broadcast time in the affected areas for hygeine education.

For that to happen, CRTV, would have to alter its programming, said Issa Tchiroma after a meeting with the health minister and CRTV general manager.

The outbreak is the worst to hit Cameroon in ten years. Close to 3000 people have so far been affected according to government and WHO estimates.

Last week, the death toll from the Far North was 222. Even though thousands of patients have recovered, about 164 were still sick.

Now, the UN believes that a total of more than 4000 people have been affected in Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger.

A total of some 260 people have been killed in the three countries since May.

The government and UN health agencies have blamed the epidemic on poor hygiene and inadequate access to clean water.

“We know that cholera is [a] food-borne disease. Food that has been in contact with contaminated water is, of course, at high risk of transmitting cholera to people,” said Claire-Lise Chaignat, WHO’s cholera coordinator.

“Good food hygiene is actually very important for preventing the disease from spreading,” she told UN Radio.