Three provinces have reported cholera cases: Dr Phaahla

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla says laboratory-confirmed cholera cases are spread over three provinces, Limpopo, Free State and Gauteng, with Gauteng being the epicenter of the outbreak.

Phaahla together with officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) provided an update on the country’s outbreak, which started in February.

Phaahla says there has been no new cases in the past seven days.

“From 20th, 24th to 30th of May, the number of patients seen with diarrhea and vomiting from 160 to the previous seven days has come down to 30 with an average of four patients being seen per day and subsequently in these seven days from 17 deaths to two deaths in the last seven days.”

Cases in Gauteng

Phaahla says there is a downward trend in the number of cholera cases in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, following an outbreak early this month.

He says there are 99 confirmed cases in Tshwane, with seven of those confirmed in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths has also declined with two deaths recorded in the last seven days.

Twenty-three people have died in the area of Hammanskraal while another in the Free State due to the disease. Phaahla says while the source of the outbreak remains under investigation, they are optimistic the situation will be contained.

“ There is a definite decline in terms of overall cases, secondly in terms of those confirmed even those of diarrhoea, serious illness very significant decline. People are coming early even those with symptoms, and we do not have any, even in Jubilee seriously ill patients. A few who had been there the previous week had been attended to, some were transferred to Steve Biko hospital, others to George Mukahri and many of those have been discharged, there is a definite downward trend.”

He says Tshwane is currently the epicentre of Cholera in Gauteng: 

Limpopo cases

Meanwhile, the cholera patient admitted at the Musina Hospital in Limpopo has been discharged. The 26-year-old Zimbabwean national presented with diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration on Friday last week. It is the second cholera case in the province.

The first case was a police officer who was diagnosed after he had travelled to Hammanskraal for training. Some residents have expressed fear that they might contract the disease as their area has serious water shortages.

“As the residents of Musina, we are so scared because they’ve discovered one case of cholera and we don’t even have a single drop of water in our taps. So, we are so scared, honestly speaking, really scared about what has been discovered, even if it’s one case of cholera it means that many more cases will be discovered. So, I advise people to be safe at all times. Try boiling their water,” says one of the residents.