Mozambique confirms first cholera cases after deadly cyclone
The relief focus has turned largely to preventing or containing what many believe will be inevitable outbreaks of diseases such as malaria and cholera
Beira — Mozambique said on Wednesday that five cases of cholera had been confirmed around the badly damaged port city of Beira after a powerful cyclone killed more than 700 people across a swathe of Southern Africa. Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique around midnight on March 14 before tearing through neighbouring Zimbabwe and Malawi, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying an area of 3,000km². The relief focus has increasingly turned to preventing or containing what many believe will be inevitable outbreaks of diseases such as malaria and cholera. "We did the lab tests and can confirm that these five people tested positive for cholera," Ussein Isse, a senior Mozambican health official, told reporters. "It will spread. When you have one case, you have to expect more cases in the community." Health workers were also battling 2,700 cases of acute watery diarrhoea — which could be a symptom of cholera — Isse said, adding the government had organised a treatment centr...
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