Bulawayo Hit By A Typhoid Outbreak

The City Of Kings and Queens has been hit by a typhoid outbreak after tests at private laboratories showed that the 12 people who died in Luveve were suffering from typhoid and dysentery, The Sunday Mail reports. The same tests also showed that the 1500+ people who were sick were also suffering from typhoid and dysentery.

Speaking to the publication, BCC Health Director Dr Edwin Sibanda said:

We had tests done at a Cimas lab and National University of Science and Technology for both water quality and rectal swabs. While the stool samples came out positive for salmonella typhi and shigella, the six water samples from various sources that include tap water, home containers, wells and streams came out negative. The patients were exhibiting different symptoms with some vomiting while others had bloody diarrhoea.

The two diseases have different incubation periods, with shigella’s being 12-96 hours while salmonella typhi is between eight to 14 days. A person could have been infected elsewhere only to show symptoms here and start spreading the disease. Again, maybe the water source could have been infected before we tested and then the bacteria were washed out by the time we were doing tests.

Meanwhile, Bulawayo residents have filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court compelling BCC to release the information about the outbreak as they content that if BCC is given more time it will conceal the information.

More: The Sunday Mail