Sudan cholera epidemic now threatens Khartoum

On Tuesday Khartoum state saw the death of two people from cholera and infection of 120 others amid medical concerns over the spread of the potentially fatal disease to the residents of the national capital.

At least 75 people have died of cholera and more than 4,000 have been infected in the White Nile state since the disease hit the state last month, the state’s Governor Abdelhameed Mousa Kasha announced on Wednesday.

The disease also has spread to the state of River Nile where a child and an elderly person died and 57 others were infected in El Matamma locality according to a locality commissioner.

Yesterday Abdelrahman El Siddig, the head of civil society organisations in White Nile state, told Radio Dabanga from El Gezira Aba that 19 new cases have been recorded in the medical isolation centres in Asalaya, El Gezira Aba, Rabak, Um Barad, El Mahla, El Hubari east of Rabak.

El Obeid

Cholera has spread again in El Obeid in North Kordofan after decrease during the last period.

Yesterday Dr Amer Adam, the deputy specialist in family medicine and the head of the doctors committee at El Obeid Hospital told Radio Dabanga that seven new cases of the disease were reported at El Sahwa district north of El Obeid on Wednesday.

He told Radio Dabanga that the isolation centre of El Obeid Hospital has continued to receive new cases of the disease every day.

He pointed to the movement of a team from the Ministry of Health to El Sahwa district north of El Obeid to identify the causes of the spread of the disease.

Dr Adam called on people to clean vegetables well before eating, care about hygiene and washing hands before eating, drinking clean water, and keeping their children away from dumpsters.

Abu Jubeiha

One person died and another was infected with cholera in the rural areas of Abu Jubeiha in South Kordofan state this week.

Activists and health-care workers told Radio Dabanga that two cases were taken to Ibrahim Malik Hospital in Khartoum and said one of them died while the other was recovering.

A worker in the sector confirmed that the locality health authorities issued a decision to chlorinate drinking water at the city's stations while prohibiting the sale of open foods in the market.

He said the locality security committee has set up a plan to combat the spread of cholera in Abu Jubeiha in South Kordofan.

Epidemic

The Sudanese health authorities still refer to “watery diarrhoea” cases, though Sudanese medics have confirmed that the disease concerns cholera. Cholera “seems to be a stigma for the government,” a UK-based Sudanese specialist told Radio Dabanga in January. “Yet raising the awareness among communities about preventing cholera is crucial to containing a cholera outbreak.”

In April, a journalist was detained in eastern Sudan for reporting about cholera.