More fatalities, infections as Sudan cholera epidemic rallies

On Monday and Tuesday four displaced people died of cholera and 49 others have been infected at camp Kalma in Nyala, capital of South Darfur. More deaths and infections have been reported from across the country as rates resurge along the Nile.

Yesterday Yagoub Abdallah, the general coordinator of displaced persons and refugee camps, told Radio Dabanga that “the camp has seen a wide spread of cholera over the past two days”.

On Monday, the camp’s two health centres receported one death and 18 new cholera cases, and three deaths and 31 new cases on Tuesday.

He explained that the number of hospitalised cases in the two centres has amounted to 78 and pointed to the acute shortage of medicines in both centres.

He appealed to the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation to speed up the provision of medicines and intravenous solutions.

Central Darfur

On Monday and Tuesday, Nierteti in Central Darfur recorded five new cases of cholera.

One of the Sheikhs of Nierteti camps told Radio Dabanga that three cases were recorded on Monday, two from the camps and one from neighbouring villages of Nierteti.

On Tuesday two cases were recorded in Nierteti camps, bringing the number of hospitalised cases to 12.

Sennar

18 people have been infected with cholera at El Dindir area in Sennar from Friday to Tuesday.

Yesterday a medical source told Radio Dabanga that El Dindir Hospital received two new cases, this in addition to the existence of six hospitalised cases in the isolation ward.

A medical source reported from El Bardana village entry of one case on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases in the isolation centre to 10 cases since Friday.

Singa area reportedly witnessed a marked decrease in recent cases.

The health source said Singa Hospital recorded three cases of cholera on Monday and Tuesday.

Khartoum

Cholera in Khartoum state has re-spread after seeing a significant decrease during the past month.

Yesterday an activist from the emergency room of Teiba El Ahamda told Radio Dabanga that El Ezba district health centre has recorded four cases of cholera during the past two days.

The activist attributed the emergence of cases to the rainfall and the terrible environmental degradation witnessed by the district due to the accumulation of waste.

He pointed out that Bahri locality has stopped transporting the waste from Teiba El Ahamda for unknown reasons for three years.

The Chairman of the Legislative and Justice Committee of the Parliament, representative of Constituency 30 of Khartoum state of the districts of El Azhari, El Shajara, El Azozab, Lamab, Hamadab, El Azhari Widaatallah pointed to the emergence of ‘watery diarrhoea, in his constituency, especially at El Shajara.

He attributed the deterioration of the health situation in the area to the lack of sewage system and the stagnation of rainwater.

Health sources revealed the emergence of a number of cases of cholera in the academic hospital in Khartoum on Sunday and Monday.

Northern State

In the Northern State, the isolation centre at Delgo Hospital received three new cases of cholera on Sunday.

Yesterday Nubian activist Ashraf Abdelwedoud warned in an interview with Radio Dabanga of the increasing rates of the disease following the rains and floods in the area in the past few days.

He called on the authorities to make efforts to curb the spread of the disease.

National epidemic

The National Epidemiological Corporation reported in early July that nearly 24,000 Sudanese have been infected and 940 cholera patients have died since the outbreak of the infectious disease in Blue Nile state in August last year.

The Sudanese authorities however, refuse to call the disease by its name, and instead refer to it as “Acute Watery Diarrhoea”. The National Intelligence and Security Service has repeatedly warned medics and the press in the country not to make mention of cholera.

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