Thyolo registers 3 new cholera cases

Thyolo District Health Office has registered three new cholera cases in Traditional Authority (T/A) Nchilamwera in the district.

In an interview on Saturday, Thyolo district director of health and social services Dr. Arnold Jumbe attributed the outbreak to the communities’ failure to take cholera vaccine which was administered when cases were on the rise in the country.

He said: “The two cholera cases were registered at Ndalama Village and one case at Mzuwa Village because the communities were misinformed by social media on the uptake of vaccine.

“During the Tithetse Cholera Campaign early this year, Thyolo District had the opportunity to access cholera vaccine but most communities in the two villages were misled by social media messages and this resulted in low uptake of cholera vaccine.”

Jumbe urged communities to trust healthcare workers and to ask them to provide reliable and right information on cholera.

However, he assured people of T/A Nchilamwera that his office will carry out a series of cholera awareness meetings and pot to pot chlorination starting from the affected households. He added that they will distribute Thanzi oral rehydration salt in the area.

Thyolo diagnosed its first case in October 2022 at Mathotho Village, T/A Mphuka. The cases increased from 32 in October 2022 to 757 in January 2023. By February 2023, the district had registered 1 176 cholera cases.

In random interviews yesterdays, residents pledged to practise personal hygiene to contain the spread of the outbreak.

Yona Banda, a resident, urged people to drink chlorinated water to prevent the disease.