Minago: two cholera cases reported

According to residents of the Minago zone in the commune and province of Rumonge (southwest of Burundi), two cases of people suffering from the cholera epidemic have been declared on the sub-hill of Ngonya, in the Minago zone. Medical sources specify the patients are being treated at the provincial hospital. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

According to residents, the people of the town of Minago has been facing a lack of drinking water for several months.

They use water they draw from Lake Tanganyika, asking administrative authorities to resolve the problem. Administrative authorities in the commune of Rumonge say they have taken measures to prevent the spread of this epidemic.

Measures

In his press release, administrator Augustin Minani suspends the trade and sale of cooked foods on national road number 3, RN3 linking Bujumbura, the economic capital to Rumonge.

“It is also prohibited to draw water, bathe and do laundry in Lake Tanganyika,” the statement added.

Owners and operators of drinking establishments in places which are not supplied with drinking water and which do not have a latrine are ordered to suspend their activity.

Another case of cholera had already broken out in the Nkayamba neigborhood, two weeks ago in the town of Rumonge. Residents of this city also faced a shortage of drinking water.

Aggravating activities

On public roads, residents engage in street trading. Women sell fruits, vegetables and fish along the RN3 from the town of the Gitaza zone in the commune of Muhuta, Rutunga and Magara in the commune of Bugarama and Rutumo, Minago, Kizuka in the commune of Rumonge as well as in the provincial capital.

Men sell grilled beef and fish skewers to passengers on transport buses.

These foods are prepared in dirty places without hygiene and without drinking water. Passengers consume them in the state they are in, without washing their hands too.

“Which facilitates the spread of the epidemic,” according to local observers.