Tanzania: New Cholera outbreak claims more lives

(SomaliNet) A new cholera outbreak in the north of Tanzania has claimed two more lives, health officials said on Wednesday.

\"Since the beginning of this week, the hospital has attended to 31 people who had contracted the disease,\" Kikteto district chief medical officer Moses Halelwa told reporters by telephone from Kibaya hospital.

Halelwa said two of the patients had died.

He said district authorities had set up a public awareness campaign urging all residents to drink boiled water and seek treatment immediately upon detecting the symptoms.

Cholera, a water-borne disease, is contracted by drinking and eating contaminated substances and causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting. It can be fatal if untreated within 24 hours.

A recurrent disease in Tanzania during the rainy season, cholera already killed 10 people during a previous outbreak in the northern Mara region earlier this month. - Sapa-AFP