YOUR STOMACH BUG IS NOT CHOLERA - HEALTH

MBABANE – Don’t panic!

The Ministry of Health has assured the nation that the stomach bug experienced by some emaSwati is not cholera.
Calvin Dlamini, the Health Promotion Officer in the Ministry of Health, said they were fully prepared, should a case of cholera be reported locally.

As of now, Eswatini is cholera-free. In fact, no case has been reported in the country in a period of 12 months.
Some emaSwati have been complaining about experiencing stomach cramps, some of which led them to the toilet.
Those who called this publication said they were concerned that the ministry may be downplaying the seriousness of the disease and implored government to do more in terms of ensuring that people were safe.

Diarrhoea

“Many people are suffering from a stomach ache, what if it is cholera? Is government doing enough to prevent the spread of the disease into our country? Let’s hope patients who visit hospitals due to diarrhoea cases are tested,” one caller said. Dlamini said the ministry was currently on alert stage since it had discovered that cholera was a serious threat, as it had killed hundreds of people in some Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.  
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that kills within hours if left untreated.

Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia are facing an unprecedented surge of cholera cases. Zambia saw a 71. 2 per cent jump in cases and 175 per cent increase in deaths in a week. Dlamini said the characteristics of cholera stool was an opaque white liquid that was not malodorous and often described as having a white rice appearance. He said the stool volume during cholera was more than that of any other infectious diarrhoea.

He said due to a large volume of diarrhoea, patients suffering from such disease had frequent and often uncontrolled bowel movements. “Cholera is a contagious disease. Someone who is infected does not feel any pain but has an uncontrollable running stomach. That patient can visit the toilet after every 30 minutes. “At that stage, patients lose weight within a short space of time due to dehydration, brought about by the high loss of water in the body,” said Dlamini.

Dlamini indicated that untreated cholera could lead to a sunken fontanelle in babies and sleepy eyes in old people.
Regarding survival chances for those failing to treat cholera on time, the health promotion officer said that person would survive for only two to three days. He said people died due to loss of too much body fluid. In terms of controlling dehydration, the health promotion officer advised patients to drink a lot of water or take the Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS).

“To those who have frequent running stomachs, they must rush to hospital to avoid unnecessary deaths. We also plead with people to always drink clean water, build proper toilets, wash their hands to curb cholera outbreak,” he said. Furthermore, Dlamini stated that the ministry procured medication and had put some personnel in place in readiness for cholera outbreak.

Role

He also stated that the ministry would be engaging other government sectors, communities and schools in working together on how the disease could be curbed. He said everyone had a role to play in dealing with the disease.
Researchers have estimated that 1.3 million to 4 million cholera cases are reported each year, while 21 000 to 143 000 deaths are recorded worldwide.

Cholera is said to be caused by eating or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called vibrio cholerae.
It is also caused by ice made from municipal water, food and drinks sold by street vendors, vegetables grown with water containing human waste, raw or uncooked fish and seafood caught in water that is  polluted with sewage.

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