Five districts hit with Cholera, 13 dead

Cholera outbreak has hit five districts in Eastern region; Butaleja and Namayengo have registered more cases. At the moment 13 people have died of the disease while more cases are still admitted at the health facilities.

In a phone interview, the District Health Officer (DHO) of Butaleja district Dr. John Matovu says they have so far registered 194 victims and 7 deaths. He explained that the five victims died from the health facilities while two from their homes.

He however added that most of patients have been discharged from the hospital wards. "At the moment we have three patients and the rest have been discharged after showing signs of improvement."

The Director General of Health Services at the ministry of health Dr. Ruth Aceng has asked the district officials to increase Cholera surveillance due to the ongoing heavy rains and to intensify health education and awareness campaigns more so the use of pit latrines.

She says Busia, Sironko and Kibuku have also reported some cases too. Aceng said the Country is currently experiencing heavy rains which are likely to bring in floods in certain districts and this may lead to spread of the outbreak to some parts of the Country.

The DHO of Namayingo Dr Patrick Magoola says by Wednesday, the district had registered 114 cases and six people reported to have died.

Cholera is a serious acute infectious disease characterized by watery diarrheal, vomiting and kills a person within hours. It can be spread through eating and drinking foods contaminated with human waste of an infected person.

Cholera affects both children and adults and can kill within hours. Cholera remains a global threat to public health and a key indicator of lack of social development.
Researchers have estimated that every year, there are roughly 1.4 to 4.3 million cases, and 28 000 to 142 000 deaths per year worldwide due to cholera.