Cholera kills 1 in Burundi

At least 86 persons have caught cholera and one of them has already died in less than two weeks when cholera broke out in the Burundian town of Rumonge in the province of Bururi, some 70 km south of the Burundian capital Bujumbura, the director of Rumonge Hospital told Xinhua by phone on Sunday.
"For less than two weeks, at least 86 persons from Rumonge neighborhoods came to hospital with cholera symptoms and one of them has died," said Dr Lambert Bigirindavyi, Director of Rumonge Hospital.
According to Bigirindavyi, drugs and equipment to control drugs are a "big challenge" because the stock is almost empty.
He commended the UNICEF and the Burundi Red Cross for availing drugs and the equipment but called on both organizations and other organizations to provide more medical assistance to control cholera.
Bigirindavyi said, "One week ago cholera was declared in Rumonge town in two neighborhoods including Iteba and Nkayamba, but it has now expanded to six neighborhoods namely Iteba, Nkayamba, the Swahili neighborhood, Kagongo, Ihwanya and Nyakarara. "
He indicated that 27 cholera patients are still in isolation tents at Rumonge Hospital and added that other people who had cholera have gone back home because they were healed.
For a long time, the town of Rumonge has been suffering from serious shortages of clean drinking water and citizens living in poor neighborhoods drink unclean water from Lake Tanganyika.
On June 20, Burundian Public Health and AIDS Control Minister Dr Sabine Ntakarutimana officially declared a cholera outbreak in some parts of the east African country's western lowlands.
The town of Rumonge, which is Burundi's fourth biggest town after the capital Bujumbura, Gitega and Ngozi, had also been warned to be watchful about cholera attack.