PANIC As Cholera Cases Rise In Cyclone Hit-Mozambique

At least 1,052 people in Mozambique’s cyclone-hit region, has been infested with cholera ,the health ministry said on Monday in a new report.

Authority said there are  massive increase of the outbreak ,in which  139 cases were reported four days ago.

The mounting cases represent an average more than 200 cases of new infections daily.

Although hundreds have been taken ill with cholera since last week, only one death has been reported so far, tallies compiled by the ministry showed.

A mass vaccination campaign is due to be rolled out on Wednesday as authorities and aid workers are scrambling to avert an epidemic more than two weeks after a devastating cyclone slammed Mozambique.

Some 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccines were due to arrive in the cyclone-battered Beira city on Tuesday, from the global stockpile for emergency, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Vaccination against cholera begins on Wednesday in Beira,” a senior Mozambican health official Ussein Isse said.

The central city of Beira is the worst affected, accounting for 959 out of the total 1,052 cases.

The city of more than half-a-million people recorded 247 cases in 24 hours between Sunday and Monday morning.

Cholera is transmitted through contaminated drinking water or food and causes acute diarrhea.