Eight die of cholera in Cote d'Ivoire

[Ronan Kelly]

C?te d?Ivoire: Seven die of cholera in Cote d'Ivoire
News - Africa news .Abidjan, C?te d?Ivoire - Seven people have died of cholera in the district of Adjam?, Abidjan, capital of Cote d'Ivoire, a statement from the UN Children Fund (UNICEF) said. To date, 35 cases of cholera have been recorded, according to UNICEF
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http://www.afriquejet.com/news/afri...f-cholera-in-cote-d'ivoire-2011013169211.html

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Seven die of cholera in Cote d'Ivoire

Re: Seven die of cholera in Cote d'Ivoire

COTE D'IVOIRE: Cholera claims eight lives in Abidjan

ABIDJAN, 31 January 2011 (IRIN) - Health experts and residents say poor hygiene exacerbated by growing piles of rubbish is largely to blame for a dry-season cholera outbreak in Côte d’Ivoire’s main city of Abidjan, which has killed eight people of 61 infected.

The diarrhoeal disease, contracted through contaminated food or water, generally occurs during the rainy season when flooding can contaminate water sources, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). But outbreaks can also occur in the dry season, WHO says.

The first case - in Abidjan’s Adjamé District (a poor neighbourhood that has seen severe post-election violence in recent weeks) - was registered in mid-January; the major rains ended in November. Cholera has also affected the district of Williamsville.

“Across this region [West Africa] there are pockets of poverty where hygiene is poor and we see occasional outbreaks,” Mamadou D. Ball, WHO representative in Côte d’Ivoire, told IRIN. “The cholera bacterium is always present.”

Poor sanitation in many areas of Abidjan favours its spread. “Many people do not practice proper hygiene at all,” Sandrine Touré, a health assistant in Williamsville, told IRIN. “Just look along the roadside where people are selling food right next to the foul drainage channels. Unfortunately that doesn’t bother consumers.”

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