Zimbabwe Adds 1,000 Cholera Cases As Lack Of Purification Chemicals Leaves Capital Without Water

Harare, Zimbabwe (AHN) - Most parts of Zimbabwe's capital city, Harare, did not have water on Sunday after officials ran out of purification chemicals and stopped pumping water in the midst of the nation's cholera outbreak.

Zimbabwe Health minister David Parirenyatwa insisted Sunday that the country's deteriorating health care system was capable of handling the cholera outbreak, even as he was announcing that more than 1,000 new cases have been reported.

The cholera outbreak began in August and has killed 425 people, sickened an estimated 11,071 and spread to bordering nations.

Management of water and sewage is critical to bringing the cholera epidemic under control. With the rainy season coming, officials fear that human feces will wash into shallow wells, causing contamination and more cases of cholera and other illnesses.

But there is a shortage of chemicals to purify water, along with a shortage of medicine to treat cholera victims, and shortages of almost everything else as Zimbabwe copes with an inflation rate of around 200 million percent.

Cholera has been found in nine of the nation's 10 provinces in this worst outbreak since 2000.

Although cholera is very contagious, it can be prevented by washing hands, cleaning foods and making sure that drinking water is not near sewage. The disease, which causes diarrhea and vomiting that is so severe that it can kill a patient, is also treatable with the right medicine.