afrol News / IRIN, 13 November - A cholera outbreak in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, has killed five people and affected 820 others, mostly women and children, who have been hospitalised in the last few weeks, heath officials said on Monday.

"We call upon the public to observe health precautions by keeping their environment clean, boiling drinking water and making use of toilets," Tatu Mwaruka, a health officer in the city's Ilala Municipality, said.

Ilala is one of the districts forming the Dar es Salaam region with Kinondoni and Temeke. All combine to make the city of Dar es Salaam.

Cholera is a bacterial intestinal infection, transmitted through contaminated food and water. It has a short incubation period, from one to five days, with the main symptom being diarrhoea that quickly leads to severe dehydration and death if untreated.

Mwaruka said the outbreak was worse in the suburbs because of the public's "reluctance to observe hygiene".

The director of Ilala Municipality, John Lubuva, said measures had been imposed in the municipality to control the outbreak, including a ban on the sale of fresh food or juice in the streets.

Health officials in Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar have also recorded the hospitalisation of least 16 people following an outbreak of dysentery and diarrhoea in Stone Town, capital of the island.

"We have cases of diarrhoea and dysentery, but no cases of cholera and deaths," Omar Suleiman, the director of information policy in Zanzibar's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said on Monday.

In August, health officials in Zanzibar reported that at least 454 children had been admitted to the main Mnazi-Mmoja Hospital, suffering from severe dysentery and diarrhoea.

Cholera and diarrhoea outbreaks started in March, resurfaced in late May and June and again in July and August in most areas of the Zanzibar Municipality and Pemba Island.

Waterborne diseases remain a problem in most areas of Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam, which health officials attribute to a filthy environment and people's reluctance to observe and maintain health hygiene.

© afrol News / IRIN

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories