Zimbabwe has said there is a big problem with cholera in the capital city, so they have called a state of emergency.
The outbreak has killed many people and there are over 7,000 suspected cases.
The city officials say the spread of the outbreak is reminding people of a deadly outbreak in 2008, when many people died.
“The mayor Ian Makone said there is a state of emergency due to cholera,” according to the local news.
The government is asking for help to stop the spread of a disease and make sure people have clean water. They say they need more help than they are getting.
Health officials are having a hard time dealing with the large number of people getting sick after the outbreak, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).
It says there are not enough doctors and nurses to take care of the sick people, and not enough medical supplies to stop the sickness from spreading.
Zimbabwe has been fighting a serious cholera outbreak because people don’t have clean water.
The middle of the new sickness outbreak is in Kuwadzana, a crowded area in Harare. Almost half of the reported cases are from there, the authorities say.
Cholera is a disease that makes you have really bad diarrhea. It happens when you eat or drink something with a germ called Vibrio cholerae in it.
It is given a special drink to replace the fluids and salts lost from diarrhea and vomiting.
On Thursday, the mayor of Harare said that the cholera outbreak is similar to the one that happened in 2008.
The disease spread and more than 4,000 people died. About 100,000 people got sick. This made it hard for basic services to work in the country.
This made President Robert Mugabe agree to share power with his rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
“The mayor said on Thursday that the cholera outbreak has become very serious. ”
On Tuesday, the health department said that there were 7,398 possible cases of illness, 50 people died, and 109 are in the hospital.
The health minister visited the center of the outbreak and announced plans to deal with it. This includes getting rid of street food sellers and bringing in clean water by truck.
The Red Cross says the sickness is spreading fast, affecting many different areas in 45 out of 62 districts and in all 10 provinces of the country.
It means the disease will likely spread to different countries.
Other countries nearby, like Malawi, South Africa, and Mozambique, have also had many cholera outbreaks before.
Tag: Health officials
-
Cholera emergency declared in the capital of Zimbabwe
-
Millions of Britons warned urgently to stop eating smoked salmon
Smoked salmon has been advised to be avoided by pregnant women, older persons, and people with impaired immune systems.
The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) and British food standards agencies have been looking into a listeria outbreak linked to fish.
According to the NHS, listeriosis is a rare condition that can produce symptoms similar to the flu, such as fever, aches and pains, vomiting, and diarrhoea.
After consuming infectious foods including ready-to-eat sandwiches, raw vegetables, unpasteurized milk, and some processed foods like deli meats, symptoms typically appear 24 hours later.
It also includes cured and smoked fish, such as salmon, which health officials warn can be dangerous if consumed while undercooked or past its prime.
Certain populations are at “higher risk of severe illness from listeriosis,” according to a risk assessment by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and its Scottish counterpart.
Anyone expecting a child should stay away from smoked salmon, the FSA and Food Standards Scotland advised Tuesday.
According to the agencies, listeria infections can cause miscarriages or sickness in newborn infants.
The hazards have also been warned about for persons who have cancer, diabetes, liver disease, or generally have weakened immune systems, such as those receiving chemotherapy.
Elderly people, defined as those 65 years of age and over, are also advised to review the FSA’s guidelines on what listeria is and how to lower the risk of infection.
Along with smoked salmon, the FSA also lists smoked trout and gravlax, a speciality of the Nordic region made of fresh salmon preserved in salt and sugar.
According to the organisation, cold-smoked salmon carries a minimal risk of transmitting listeriosis to high-risk persons, but it does carry a significant risk of illness severity.
This indicates that among higher-risk groups, there is a chance for serious disease, hospitalisation, and death.
According to specialists in food safety, several ready-to-eat items can serve as Petri dishes for listeria, providing the bacteria with the ideal environment to grow.
The listeria that might be nestled inside “cold-smoked fish,” which is typically described as “smoked” on the container, and cured fish are not sufficiently heated to eradicate them.
To make sure it is safe to eat, all fish should be fully cooked, or it can be eaten cold after being refrigerated in the refrigerator.
After the first cases of listeria monocytogenes connected to smoked salmon were made public in 2020, health officials began an investigation into these cases.
Data from the NHS shows that there have since been 19 confirmed cases of listeriosis. Four persons passed away.
Professor Robin May, the FSA’s principal scientific advisor, stated that “our risk assessment shows that there is still an ongoing risk to health associated with eating cold-smoked fish for specific groups of vulnerable people, including pregnant women and individuals with impaired immunity.”
We are urging these consumers to stay away from ready-to-eat cold-smoked and cured fish products in light of the risk assessment.
If you fall into the category of persons who are more susceptible to listeria infection and decide to eat these items, we strongly advise that you cook them to a scalding hot temperature throughout first.
This will guarantee that any listeria in the product is eliminated before consumption.
According to Dr. Gauri Godbole, a consultant microbiologist at the UKHSA, “most people who are affected by listeriosis will have no symptoms or experience mild diarrhoea that subsides in a few days.”
“Those who are more susceptible may be at risk of developing severe illnesses like meningitis and sepsis that could be fatal.”
-
Health officials in Kenya sacked by president over mosquito net scam
A corruption scandal has led Kenyan President William Ruto to fire a principal secretary in charge of public health and dissolve the whole board of a medical supply company.
The scam involves a bungled tender involving the supply of donor-funded treated bed nets meant to protect against malaria-causing mosquitoes worth $27m (£21.5m).
The Global Fund had tasked the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) to procure more than 10 million nets to be distributed to low-income households in about half of the counties in the country that are malaria-endemic.
But Global Fund cancelled the tender – accusing Kemsa of irregularities by allegedly favouring one company whose documents were not in order, and unfairly locking out others.
In 2020, Kemsa was again in the spotlight over claims of misappropriation of millions of dollars intended to buy personal protective equipment and other essential health facilities at the height of the Covid pandemic.