Harare rocked by typhoid outbreak

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Harare rocked by typhoid outbreak

2:06 CAT | 29 Jan 2016

Reuters / A girl’s temperature is checked at a Red Cross facility in Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak late last year. Without proper diagnostic tests, many curable diseases go undetected in Africa.

Zimbabwe’s capital city Harare has been rocked by a typhoid outbreak and authorities have deployed medical experts to determine the magnitude of the spread of the disease.

Fresh cases of typhoid were reported in SA too and indications were that at least one of the patients had recently travelled to Zimbabwe.

A report in Zimbabwe’s state-owned Herald newspaper on Wednesday said since last Friday health authorities in that country had confirmed three cases in Glen Norah, two in Hopley and one in Hatfield.

The newspaper quoted Harare City health director Dr Prosper Chonzi as saying: “We have sent our teams to assess the situation in those areas, particularly in Hopley, where there is strong suspicion that people could be sick at their homes. The teams will be interviewing and treating all suspected cases”.

At least 15 students were hospitalised at Silveira Mission High School hospital in Bikita on Monday following a suspected outbreak of typhoid, but authorities said they were now out of danger.

The Gauteng Department of Health said on Tuesday that two new cases of typhoid fever had been reported at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, in Tshwane.

“A 38-year-old Zimbabwean female patient, who resides in Centurion, presented in the said hospital on Thursday, 21 January 2016 with four days history of fever,” the Gauteng department of health said.

“She was said to be quite confused on arrival in the hospital. The patient, who was referred from Centurion Clinic, had travelled home to Zimbabwe two weeks ago and had just returned to SA.”

The department said another, Zimbabwean female patient, who has been staying in the country since 2012 sought treatment at the Dr George Mukhari Hospital last Wednesday — two days after her illness started.

“There was no fever, headache, vomiting nor diarrhoea. Blood tests were also carried out on the same day of her admission. She was confirmed to be typhoid positive on Monday, the 25 January 2016. She is also on antibiotics,” the department said.

However, the hospitalised woman who resides in Soshanguve, Tshwane, last visited Zimbabwe in February last year.

“It should be noted that there are no epidemiological linkages (geographical proximity) between all the seven cases that have been identified so far,” the health department said.

Provincial health spokesman Steve Mabona said the department had deployed an outbreak task team in Tshwane to trace the origin of the disease.

“The team will meet family members of the patients and (do) some tests. The patients are currently being treated,” said Mr Mabona.

These cases follow the case of a Malawian woman who was diagnosed with the disease at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital. She died on January 17.

Gauteng health MEC Qedani Dorothy Mahlangu said two children, who had been admitted to Edenvale District Hospital after being diagnosed with the disease were recovering.

“The 16-year-old currently on admission at the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital is also doing remarkably well and is said to be in a quite stable condition,” said Ms Mahlangu.

The department said it was monitoring affected areas in Hillbrow, Yeoville, Edenvale and Palm Springs.

Dr Karen Keddy, the chief pathologist at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), said typhoid fever was not unusual during this time of year because people were returning from their travels.

Source: African News Agency