SOMALIA: Hundreds of suspected cholera victims are admitted into hospital

Fears that another cholera outbreak is about to sweep Mogadishu have risen. The number of suspected cholera infections are increasing in the Somali capital and its outskirts. This week alone, more than 100 suspected cases were admitted at the Benadir Hospital in Mogadishu. "We have 102 cases admitted in this hospital, one of them dies everyday and the number is increasing," said Dr. Abdullahi Hashi, the Manager at Benadir Hospital. World Health Organization (WHO) officials and doctors in Mogadishu are trying to confirm their suspicions by sending samples taken from the patients for examination in neighbouring Kenya. Cholera can be transmitted through contaminated food and water. "What we need to do first is social mobilization. We need to do water chlorinating, which means we put chlorine in drinking water to make it safe for drinking, and we have to get sufficient supplies for hospitals like Benadir where the patients are," said Dr. Mohamed Mahamoud Fuje, a WHO representative in Mogadishu. The Benadir Hospital in Mogadishu is the only hospital admitting those with symptoms including diarrhoea and vomiting. More victims are thought to have died in the neighbouring Middle Shabele and Lower Shabelle regions. Both regions were badly hit by floods late last year, when the Shabelle River burst its banks. Fighting broke out late last year when Islamic courts militia fought a bloody war with warlords who were defeated in more than four months of fighting for Mogadishu, the Islamists won credit for producing one of the most disciplined military forces in Somalia since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

ITN Source | March 7, 2007

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