Cape Town baby treated for cholera

December 18 2008 at 07:15AM
By Craig McKune and Catherine Boulle

A baby is being treated for cholera in a Cape Town hospital and the provincial health department has reiterated that its outbreak response teams across the Western Cape are "on high alert" following the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe.

The department says the young patient, a four-month-old boy from Kraaifontein, had not recently travelled to Zimbabwe or come into contact with anyone else suffering from cholera.

Lumka Bakana of the City of Cape Town's health department said a doctor had reported that although the child did not show typical symptoms of cholera, his stool samples tested positive for the disease.

Provincial health department spokesperson Faiza Steyn said a specimen from the case had been forwarded to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) for further laboratory analysis "to ascertain the strain of cholera that was identified".

"Preventive and investigative measures were initiated in the community to ascertain the possible source of infection," she said.

Another suspected case of cholera in a woman, who recently travelled to Zimbabwe and exhibited symptoms of cholera three days later, was found to be negative after laboratory investigations.

The woman, who was admitted to the Claremont Life Healthcare Hospital on 10 December, was discharged the following day, her symptoms having stabilised.

Charlene Jacobs, of the NICD, confirmed that the female patient had tested negative for cholera.

Steyn said all provincial health facilities were told last month to be on high alert and to immediately report any suspected cholera cases to health authorities.

"Outbreak response teams in the districts are on high alert," she said.

Whenever a suspected case of cholera is reported, the department investigates, in close collaboration with National Health Laboratory Services and environmental health practitioners, to assess sanitation and hygiene at the person's residence.

The cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, which broke out in mid-October and has been responsible for the deaths of almost 1 000 Zimbabweans, spilled over the South African border last month.