Cholera reaches Zim capital

from GMA news (Philippines).

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us

HARARE, Zimbabwe - A cholera outbreak has claimed its first victim in Zimbabwe's capital after causing death and illness elsewhere in a country too poor to provide clean water or clear garbage from the streets.

Health authorities reported the death in Harare Thursday and said 20 other people had been hospitalized.

Across the country in recent weeks, at least 27 people have died from cholera, mostly in impoverished districts, and hundreds have been treated for the highly infectious intestinal disease spread by contaminated food and water.

Doctors have reported at least 120 preventable deaths from the disease during the year as sewer and drainage service collapse. Infrastructure has been left to crumble for months with politicians deadlocked first over disputed elections and now over forming a power sharing government.