Death toll mounts in Central Darfur ‘watery diarrhoea’ outbreak

In Nierteti in Central Darfur, the death toll from ‘acute watery diarrhoea’ – suspected of being cholera – has amounted to nine, while the infection cases have risen to more than 100.

Yesterday activists in voluntary work reported to Radio Dabanga from Nierteti that four people died of the disease while being transported from neighbouring villages to the hospital.

Five more deaths were reported from Nierteti the previous day.

An activist from the hospital told Radio Dabanga that the medical isolation centre allocated to receive the cases was full, while others are still searching for a place.

He said that the isolation centre has about 65 suspected cases of cholera.

Volunteers in voluntary work have appealed to the Federal Ministry of Health and State to urgently act.

Outbreak

Two people died from similar symptoms of acute watery diarrhoea or cholera in the last week. Nierteti Hospital’s designated isolation ward received a number of patients during the weekend, volunteers in the hospital told Radio Dabanga.

Fifteen cases of cholera or diarrhoea arrived from the villages of Ketzuela, Kurna, Mara and Kutrem, bringing the total number of cases in the hospital to 53 on Monday.

On Sunday the state’s health ministry deployed a medical team consisting of ten doctors, eight nurses and medics to Nierteti town and they went on their way to the affected villages. “But military forces stationed at Kutrem, east of Nierteti, denied the team access to the villages and forced the team to return to Nierteti,” a source in the area said.

September 2017 was the last time that Nierteti Hospital was treating more than ten cases of cholera – most of them arrived from the camps for displaced people – at a time when the spread of the epidemic in Sudan seemed to subside.

A slight increase in cases was reported during the last week of 2017 and the first week of this year, however: 46 and 30 new cases respectively were registered in eastern Sudan.

Follow #CholeraInSudan, #الكوليرا_السودان for ongoing coverage by Radio Dabanga