Dead, infections by cholera in eastern Sudan’s El Gedaref

(UPDATE 21/03/2017 09:00) More than 47 people have been infected with cholera in El Gallabat locality in eastern Sudan between Friday and Monday. A patient succumbed to the disease last week.

The woman died in El Jinan, El Gallabat West locality, on Thursday, where three people were also infected with the disease.

A source in the health sector of El Gedaref state reported to Radio Dabanga that from Friday to Monday, 30 cases of cholera were reported in El Saraf El Ahmer, and more than seventeen cases in El Mahalla; both in El Gallabat locality. There have been no deaths among the newly infected people.

Another two cases emerged in El Saboni in El Gallabat on Thursday, after three infected people from El Gallabat East reported to the hospital on Wednesday, the medical worker said last week.

Yesterday state health authorities deployed teams of doctors and nurses to the affected areas in a way to curb the spreading of infections.

The first week of March showed slight decrease in the number of cholera infections in El Gedaref, although a child died of cholera and four others were infected in El Gallabat East locality. The Commissioner issued measures in January in an attempt to curb the spread of the disease, and closed weekly markets in El Gallabat East.

“Infection rates will be growing in the coming rainy season if the Ministry continues to ignore its outbreak,” a health source predicted last month.

Starting the prevalence of cholera infections in parts of eastern Sudan and El Gezira seven months ago, the Sudanese government has persisted in calling the disease 'acute watery diarrhoea' instead of cholera.