680 Die in Ethiopia Cholera Outbreak
Pastor Dale Morgan
680 Die in Ethiopia Cholera Outbreak*
By LES NEUHAUS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 21, 2007; 11:54 AM
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- More than 680 people have died in a suspected
cholera outbreak in Ethiopia that has also affected neighboring
countries, officials said Wednesday.
Some 60,000 people have been infected, but the country's Health Ministry
is resisting pressure to declare an emergency despite a U.N. warning
that the disease is an epidemic.
"The fact that it is spreading to new areas in the country is cause for
serious concern," said Paul Hebert, head of the U.N.'s Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ethiopia. "The full extent of
this needs to be addressed."
The U.N. has not officially declared the outbreak, which began nearly a
year ago, to be cholera. But U.N. officials speaking privately because
of the sensitivity of the issue are saying it is cholera, something
local officials continue to deny.
Eight of Ethiopia's 11 regions have already been affected by the
outbreak, according to Ethiopia's Health Ministry and the U.N. The
remote eastern region of Afar has recorded more than 1,000 new cases in
the last week alone.
The outbreak started in April 2006 after heavy rains in the country.
Neighboring Somalia and Kenya have also been hit, and more than 1,000
people have been infected with suspected cholera in Uganda's capital
since October. In Kenya, 17 people have died since October. In Somalia,
there have been 39 reported deaths since the beginning of the year, the
U.N. says.
"Once a disease has been present for an extended period of time, then
the likelihood of it being eliminated is quite difficult," Hebert said.
"I don't think we are addressing this issue on the scale that is needed
and it needs to be targeted to have an impact."
Ethiopian health officials, who say the disease is not cholera, are
describing the outbreak as acute watery diarrhea, but they have not
shared any of the test results that they have carried out.
Health Ministry spokesman Ahmed Emano said that contrary to U.N.
concerns, the outbreak was being contained by the government.
Cholera is transmitted through contaminated water and is linked to poor
hygiene, overcrowding and bad sanitation. Symptoms include diarrhea and
vomiting and it is deadly if untreated. "It can kill someone in as
little as five hours," said Kebba O. Jaiteh, emergency officer with the
U.N.'s World Health Organization in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia's economy could suffer if the country declares a cholera
emergency, especially in international trade and tourism.
"Many African countries don't declare a cholera emergency even when they
know for a fact that it is in their country for these very economic
reasons," Jaiteh said.
The U.N. in Ethiopia has said the disease is suspected of having entered
Ethiopia from Sudan last year, where the disease was confirmed in early
2006.
U.N. officials in Ethiopia are unable to act on their own about the
issue and are obligated to follow the lead of the country's Health Ministry.
Only after a disease has been recorded as active in an area for one year
can the WHO declare an emergency and label the disease as endemic to the
country.
Fears are mounting that with the onset of next month's rainy season the
outbreak could worsen.
___
Associated Press writers Katy Pownall in Kampala, Uganda, and Malkadir
M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.