Rome (Fides Service) - Battered by eleven years of civil war in which at least 300,000 people died, Burundi now has to fight an outbreak of cholera. In the capital Bujumbura 105 cases, of which 5 mortal, were registered in the first two weeks of January. The patients are being treated at two hospitals in the city.
Most of them, 75%, come from the poor district of Kamuvu, north of
Kamenge, where the sewage system is dilapidated, clean water is scarce and 5,000 live in precarious sanitary conditions. To stop the disease from spreading the government has told people not to buy fruit and vegetables from street vendors.
In this situation unless viral diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea and vomiting are promptly treated they can kill.
Between January and October 1994, 17 European countries reported 2339 cases of cholera, 47 of them lethal (the previous year the cases were 73 of which 2 were mortal). American countries reported 202,192 including 2,438 mortal (41% less cases and 1.5% more death than in 1992).
African countries reported 76,713 cases of which 2,532 resulted in death. Asian countries reported 90,862 cases of which 1,809 caused the death of the patient ( cases and deaths 5.5 times higher than in 2003). In 1992, Vibrio Cholerae O139 (Bengala) was identified for the first time as the germ responsible for major epidemics in India and in 1993 it was isolated in 7 Asian countries. (AP) (21/1/2005 Agenzia Fides; Righe:23; Parole:294)