Cholera Reemerges as Threat During Wet Season

[tyler arnot]

Cholera in South Sudan kills 20, affects hundreds

Reprinted from SudanTribune.Com
Tuesday 5 August 2008.
August 4, 2008 (JUBA) — Cholera has seen a resurgence in southern
Sudan, where 20 have died over the weekend following heavy rains that
drove hundreds of thousands from their homes, a local official said on
Monday.

Cholera, which has been in decline in southern Sudan until recent
rains, has infected almost 6,000 people in the region and killed at
least 44 this year in other parts of the semi-autonomous region.

"Twenty people so far died of a disease believed to be cholera over
the weekend and many others are now admitted in Aweil hospital," said
Tong Aken Ngor a member of parliament for the Aweil area of Bahr al-
Ghazal state in southern Sudan.

Ngor said some 250,000 people had been made homeless due to heavy
rains that caused flooding and destroyed houses in the area.

Ngor said many people in the flooded areas had little food or shelter
and called for urgent international help. Southern Sudan is emerging
from a civil war after a peace treaty signed in 2005 that created an
autonomous government for the region.

Cholera is a water-borne disease which causes vomiting and acute
diarrhoea and can rapidly lead to death from dehydration if not
treated.

A cholera outbreak in 2006 killed 700 people and affected around
25,000.

(Reuters)

Copyright © 2003-2008 SudanTribune - All rights reserved.