Latest cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe kills 10 children

A cholera outbreak occurs nearly every year during Zimbabwe's rainy season. Yet the rains are really not to blame. The lack of sanitary water and sewer systems throughout the country are the culprit.

During the rainy season, flooded waters rise up to reach areas where people had to relieve themselves. The waste is then carried downstream where it begins to infect people with cholera.

In the latest outbreak for Zimbabwe, 10 children have died from cholera. 200 children have been admitted for treatment at local hospitals. From Kenya's Daily Nation, we read this report on the latest round of cholera.

At least 10 children have died from a suspected diarrhoea outbreak which has affected over 200 children in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo over the past month, a state daily said Wednesday.

"More than 200 children suffering from the disease were admitted during the month of June," The Herald newspaper quoted an official at the government-run Mpilo Hospital as saying.

"Ten children have died. Technicians at our laboratories are analysing stools to determine the cause of the disease."

An official at a private hospital in the city said at least three children had died of diarrhoea at the hospital.