Cholera Claims 58 Lives

Dr Linda Van-Otoo

Dr Linda Van-Otoo
The death toll from cholera is rising at an alarming rate with 58 people reported dead in the regions of Volta, Greater Accra and Central.

In the Greater Accra Region, 51 deaths were recorded as at Friday in health facilities dotted across the region, with the capital being the hardest hit.

There are speculations that more people might have lost their lives over the weekend as affected people trooped to health facilities.

The Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Linda Van-Otoo, announced that 'the Greater Accra Region has so far recorded 6,179 cases of cholera and 51 deaths out of this number.'

The cases are mostly in the capital where health facilities are flowing with cases of cholera and still counting the death toll.

Dr Van-Otoo was speaking at the outdooring ceremony of the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council Sanitation Task force on Friday.

She indicated that the region was near recording a total of 10,000 cases since the outbreak in June.

'All the health centres within the region are recording about 300 cases daily with over 1000 cases weekly,' Dr Van-Otoo said.

5 In Volta
In the Volta Region, five people are reported dead after cholera struck the Ketu South Municipality and the Nkwanta South District of the region.

Two of the deaths were recorded at the Ketu South Municipal Hospital in Aflao, while the rest were recorded at the St Joseph's Catholic Hospital at Nkwanta.

So far, about 53 cases had been reported in the Ketu South Municipality as Tips at last Thursday afternoon, Dr Jospeh Teye Nuertey, Volta Regional Director of Health Services, had hinted, while about 41 cases were also recorded at Nkwanta South.

The Ketu South Municipal Disease Control Officer, David Agbokpe, explained that the first cases were recorded last week Monday, August 11, 2014 when nine cases of diarrhoea were reported at the Ketu South Municipal Hospital.

Specimen were collected and sent for further testing and analysis at the laboratory of the Volta Regional Hospital, popularly called Trafalgar in Ho.

Three days later, the results proved positive for vibrio cholerae infestation (causative bacteria) and between the August 11 and the Thursday afternoon, two persons out of 50 cases had died.

The remaining 47, according to Mr Agbokpe, were undergoing treatment and special care.

Signs 
The vibrio cholerae is usually found in food or water contaminated by faeces from a person with the infection. When a person consumes the contaminated food or water, the bacteria release a toxin in the intestines that produces severe watery diarrhoea accompanied by vomiting, which can quickly lead to dehydration.

Symptoms can begin as soon as a few hours or as long as five days after infection. Often symptoms are mild, but sometimes they are very serious. Although many infected people may have minimal or no symptoms, they can still contribute to spread of the infection.

He noted that the cases were traced to communities within which the patients lived, which often have serious sanitation problems with residents exercising poor hygienic habits.

The Municipal Health Director, Joseph Degle, had advised all residents within the municipality to ensure that food is well-cooked and eaten hot, and stick to drinking potable water.

2 Die in Agona West 
Two people have been reported dead at the Agona Swedru Government Hospital in the Central Region following an outbreak of cholera that hit the area.

Anim Boanu, Deputy Agona West Municipal Disease Control Officer, said as at August 20, 128 suspected cholera cases had been recorded at the hospital.

He said this when he addressed the second ordinary meeting of the Agona West Municipal Assembly at Agona Swedru.

Mr Boanu said some of the patients were brought from Gomoa East and Awutu Senya districts, adding that most of the patients had been treated and discharged

FROM Fred Duodu, Aflao
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