Zimbabwe: Strange disease (gastrointestinal) strikes Bulawayo... Council to arrest residents for not reporting cases - Typhoid and Dysentery

[Shiloh]

Source: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news...yo-187529.html

Strange disease strikes Bulawayo... Council to arrest residents for not reporting cases
by Mandla Ndlovu
19 Jun 2020 at 20:46hrs

Bulawayo City Council has released a statement informing residents that there is an Outbreak of Gastrointestinal Disease which is currently concentrated in Luveve but slowly spreading to other areas.

In a statement released by the Council's health department, the City Fathers said investigations are ongoing to establish the aetiological agent as well as to control the spread of both diseases.

The Council further warned the residents that if they fail to report cases related to the disease they will be arrested without warning.

Read the full statement below:

We write to inform you that there is an Outbreak of Gastrointestinal Disease in Bulawayo, mainly in the Luveve Clinic catchment area, but some cases may be reported elsewhere. This comes as the City is also facing the Global Pandemic of COVID-19. Investigations are ongoing to establish the aetiological agent as well as to control the spread of both diseases....

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.chronicle.co.zw/luveve-d...-inconclusive/

Luveve deaths: Water quality tests inconclusive
25 Jun, 2020 - 00:06
Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
TWELVE people including two senior citizens from Entembeni Old People’s home have died since diarrhoea broke out in Bulawayo’s Luveve suburb last month.

Last week on Friday, the death toll was pegged at nine after three people died at home without seeking medical attention.

Gastrointestinal disease has been identified as the cause for the diarrhoea outbreak, although its source is yet to be established.

The first person to die of gastrointestinal disease was a 55-year-old man from Gwabalanda suburb who died on May 23 while the last death was recorded on Friday involving a 22-year-old man from Mpopoma suburb.

The oldest to succumb to the disease are two men housed at Entembeni Old People’s Home aged 87 and 96 years.

An eight-year-old from Montrose suburb was the youngest victim.

As of Monday, a total of 1 529 people had been treated; 1 356 at council clinics and Mpilo Central Hospital, and 173 attended to from home.

Authorities say 132 patients have since recovered.

The city’s health department visited 279 homes mostly in Luveve suburb in a door-to-door campaign to identify patients.

Government attributed the disease outbreak to Bulawayo’s 144-hour water shedding exercise and vandalism of sewerage pipes.

Residents have blamed the city’s water for the diarrhoea outbreak but tests are yet to validate the claims.

Water quality tests done by the Bulawayo City Council, National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and Cimas laboratories have been inconclusive on what caused the outbreak.

Further tests need to be done at Lancet laboratories, however, this has been derailed by lack of funds, a council report has stated.

The report was tabled before a Government technical committee looking into the issue of diarrhoea outbreak in the city yesterday...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news...yo-188090.html

Typhoid outbreak in Bulawayo
by Staff reporter
14 hrs ago

TESTS done at private laboratories to ascertain the cause of 12 deaths and illness to more than 1 500 residents of Luveve in Bulawayo have revealed that they suffered from typhoid and dysentery.

The revelations come after the city council last week said patients suffered from gastrointestinal diseases. Gastrointestinal disease is a broad term that refers to diseases involving the gastrointestinal tract, namely the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and rectum, and the accessory organs of digestion, the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas.

Residents have already filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court compelling council to release key information relating to the outbreak and further allow residents to engage independent experts to assess the situation. City Health Director Dr Edwin Sibanda said stool tests that were done at a Cimas laboratory came out positive for salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid and shigella which causes dysentery.

He said council initially did random sampling of testing one in five cases but as the number of cases grew, they resorted to only collecting one in 20 infected people. Dr Sibanda said it would be difficult to pinpoint the exact source of the disease as water tests also done at the same laboratory did not have any traces of the two bacteria...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.newzimbabwe.com/bulawayo...hoea-outbreak/

Bulawayo city authorities say still puzzled by killer diarrhoea outbreak
9th July 2020 Zimbabwe
By Mbekezeli Ncube

AUTHORITIES within the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) say they were yet to find any evidence water pumped to Luveve high density suburb contained deposits of sewer water, something that has been linked to over a dozen deaths in the city.

The city has been hit by a typhoid and dysentery outbreak with Luveve being the epicentre of the waterborne diseases.

Atleast 13 residents, the majority children, died with over 1 500 related ailments reported.

Addressing stakeholders at a government parliamentary portfolio committee meeting held at the Large City Hall Monday, Director of Engineering Services, Engineer Simela Dube said authorities were yet to determine the exact point of contamination...