CAIRO: A cholera outbreak in a southern Sudanese city killed nearly 60 people and sickened about 1,300 others over the last three days, health authorities said Saturday.
The outbreak in the southern city of Kosti was blamed mainly on contaminated drinking water after the city’s water supply facility was knocked out during an attack by a notorious paramilitary group, the health ministry said. The group has been fighting the country’s military for about two years.
The ministry said in a statement the disease killed 58 people and sickened 1,293 others between Thursday and Saturday in Kosti, 420 kilometers (261 miles) south of the capital, Khartoum.
The ministry said it has taken a series of measures to fight the outbreak, including launching a vaccination campaign against cholera in the city, which lies on the west bank of the White Nile River, opposite Rabak, the capital of White Nile province.
The ministry said it also expanded the capacity of an isolation center in cooperation with the United Nations and other international medical groups.
Doctors without Borders said its cholera treatment center in the Kosti hospital has been overwhelmed, prompting health authorities to use adult and pediatric emergency rooms to provide additional space to treat stricken patients.
“The situation is really alarming and is about to get out of control,” said Dr. Francis Layoo Ocan, the group’s medical coordinator in Kosti. “We’ve run out of space, and we are now admitting patients in an open area and treating them on the floor because there are not enough beds.”
The group said the White Nile River is the most likely source of infection in the city, as many families have been bringing water from it using donkey carts following a major power outage in the area.
Local authorities banned residents from collecting water from the river and reinforced chlorination in the water distribution system, said MSF, the abbreviation for the French name of the group, Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The disease killed more than 600 and sickened over 21,000 others in Sudan between July and October last year, mostly in the country’s eastern areas where millions of people displaced by the conflict were located. Another major outbreak in 2017 left at least 700 dead and sickened about 22,000 in less than two months.
Cholera is a highly contagious disease that causes diarrhea leading to severe dehydration and can be fatal if not immediately treated, according to the World Health Organization. It’s transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water.
Sudan was plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the military and a powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open warfare across the country.
The fighting, which wrecked the capital, Khartoum, and other urban areas has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings. They amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.
The war in Sudan has killed more than 24,000 people and driven over 14 million people — about 30 percent of the population — from their homes, according to the UN An estimated 3.2 million Sudanese have escaped to neighboring countries.
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Cholera kills 58 and sickens about 1,300 others over 3 days in a Sudanese city, health officials say
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Cholera kills 58 and sickens about 1,300 others over 3 days in a Sudanese city, health officials say
- The outbreak in the southern city of Kosti was blamed mainly on contaminated drinking water
- The ministry said in a statement the disease killed 58 people and sickened 1,293 others between Thursday and Saturday
Morocco flood evacuees still shaken, waiting to return home
- More than 150,000 people have been evacuated over the past week as heavy rainfall battered provinces in Morocco’s north
- Authorities have set up a vast camp of small blue tents sheltering nearly 40,000 people 50km north of Rabat
KENITRA, Morocco: It was through a call from her local mosque’s loudspeakers that Kasia El Selami learnt it was time to flee as floodwaters rose in her Moroccan village of Ouled Ameur.
Selami is among more than 150,000 people to have been evacuated over the past week as heavy rainfall battered provinces in Morocco’s north.
“We felt immense fear... especially for our children,” said the 67-year-old while hanging a blanket by the tent in which she now lives.
Some residents, including children and elderly people, were seen stranded on rooftops before being rescued, at times with small boats.
Others were rescued by helicopter as floodwaters inundated roads and farmland in several areas.
Near Kenitra, some 50 kilometers north of Rabat, authorities have set up a vast camp of small blue tents sheltering nearly 40,000 people, including Selami and her children.
At the camp, evacuees make do with little while waiting to be able to return home.
One woman scrubbed laundry in a small basin just a few meters away from an enclosure where evacuated cows, horses, chickens and sheep were penned.
Nearby, sick or lightly injured men and women queued outside a mobile clinic.
‘Terrified’
Despite the relative quiet, Ali Al Aouni said these were “very difficult days.”
The 60-year-old complained about the cold and anxiety, adding that his children were still “terrified” after what had happened.
“The water level got about a meter and a half high” in his village, he recalled. “We’re afraid to go home if the flood comes back.”
Aouni said his eldest son stayed behind to watch over their property, updating him over the phone that the water kept rising.
Not far away, the civil defense was handing out mattresses, warm clothing and food to the rescued families.
These came “in addition to health care and veterinary check-ups for livestock,” Adil Al-Khatabi, an official, told AFP.
Selami is already thinking about going home.
“We’re waiting for this ordeal to end as soon as possible, so we can return to our homes,” she said.
Last December 37 people were killed in sudden floods in Safi, in Morocco’s deadliest weather-related disaster in the past decade.
In recent weeks, severe weather and flooding in neighboring Algeria killed two people, including a child.
In Tunisia, at least five people died, while others were still missing after the country experienced its heaviest rainfall in over 70 years last month.
And further north, Portugal and Spain have also endured storms and torrential rains in recent days.
Selami is among more than 150,000 people to have been evacuated over the past week as heavy rainfall battered provinces in Morocco’s north.
“We felt immense fear... especially for our children,” said the 67-year-old while hanging a blanket by the tent in which she now lives.
Some residents, including children and elderly people, were seen stranded on rooftops before being rescued, at times with small boats.
Others were rescued by helicopter as floodwaters inundated roads and farmland in several areas.
Near Kenitra, some 50 kilometers north of Rabat, authorities have set up a vast camp of small blue tents sheltering nearly 40,000 people, including Selami and her children.
At the camp, evacuees make do with little while waiting to be able to return home.
One woman scrubbed laundry in a small basin just a few meters away from an enclosure where evacuated cows, horses, chickens and sheep were penned.
Nearby, sick or lightly injured men and women queued outside a mobile clinic.
‘Terrified’
Despite the relative quiet, Ali Al Aouni said these were “very difficult days.”
The 60-year-old complained about the cold and anxiety, adding that his children were still “terrified” after what had happened.
“The water level got about a meter and a half high” in his village, he recalled. “We’re afraid to go home if the flood comes back.”
Aouni said his eldest son stayed behind to watch over their property, updating him over the phone that the water kept rising.
Not far away, the civil defense was handing out mattresses, warm clothing and food to the rescued families.
These came “in addition to health care and veterinary check-ups for livestock,” Adil Al-Khatabi, an official, told AFP.
Selami is already thinking about going home.
“We’re waiting for this ordeal to end as soon as possible, so we can return to our homes,” she said.
Last December 37 people were killed in sudden floods in Safi, in Morocco’s deadliest weather-related disaster in the past decade.
In recent weeks, severe weather and flooding in neighboring Algeria killed two people, including a child.
In Tunisia, at least five people died, while others were still missing after the country experienced its heaviest rainfall in over 70 years last month.
And further north, Portugal and Spain have also endured storms and torrential rains in recent days.
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