Disease

Typhoid outbreak looms in Harare, Zimbabwe

There are fears of an imminent outbreak of the deadly typhoid disease, following widespread incidences of dysentery in Harare’s densely populated suburbs where people are drinking water from unprotected sources.

Health officials last week said perennial water shortages, coupled with discontinuation of water supplies to defaulters had forced residents to get water from unprotected sources, while the residents blame the city fathers for failing to supply running water for domestic purposes, forcing many of them to use water from unorthodox sources.

For the week ending October 10, 14 deaths were recorded in one week and of that number, six were children under the age of five years.

An infected person will pass on the bacteria in their stools when they go to the toilet, and can infect their surroundings and if it is a communal toilet, many will most likely get the disease.