•The report comes even as some Kenyan counties are still experiencing active outbreak of the disease
•The disease can kill within hours if left untreated
More than 78 people in Kenya died in 2018 as a result of cholera, a report by the World Health Organisation shows.
This, according to the report, was a 1.4 per cent case fatality.
The report shows that a total number of cholera cases reported in 2018 were 5,719.
The report comes even as some counties are still experiencing active outbreak of the disease.
Nyeri county government recently week issued an outbreak alert following reported cases of the epidemic in the neighbouring Kirinyaga county.
WHO estimates that Cholera, an infection that is cheap to treat with rehydration salts, infects one million to four million people and claims up to 143,000 lives globally every year.
Cholera affects both children and adults.
It is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera and spreads fast in cramped and dirty areas.
Most of those infected show mild symptoms but in severe cases, the disease can kill within hours if left untreated.
Symptoms in infected persons in the early stages include profuse watery diarrhoea, vomiting, rapid heart rate, loss of skin elasticity, dry mucous membranes, low blood pressure, thirst, muscle cramps and restlessness or irritability.
Persons with severe cholera can develop acute renal failure, severe electrolyte imbalances and coma.
Statistics from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shows that as at December 8 this year, 4,886 cases including 37 associated deaths have been reported.
Eighty five per cent of the cases are being reported from Nairobi and Wajir with the outbreak being active in Garissa, Nairobi, Turkana and Mandera counties.
Counties in the northern region have been the worst hit because of the high rate of open defecation in the region.
At least 12 out of the 47 Counties of Kenya have reported cholera cases in the past 12 months.
They include Embu, Garissa, Kajiado, Kisumu, Machakos, Makueni, Mandera, Mombasa, Nairobi, Narok, Turkana and Wajir.
The WHO report now shows the outbreak in East Africa has continued to be reported Kenya, Somalia, eastern Uganda and Tanzania.
“We continue to emphasise, however, that the long-term solution for ending cholera lies in increasing access to clean drinking water and providing adequate sanitation and hygiene,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Image: FILE
Globally, 34 countries reported 499,447 cholera cases and 2,990 cholera deaths, the report states.
In Africa, 120,652 cholera cases and 2,436 deaths were reported from 17 countries in 2018.
“Overall, the cholera burden on the continent during the year fell from the spike in numbers of cases and deaths in 2017 with a 37 per cent decrease in cases and a 25 per cent decrease in deaths,” the report shows.
The UN body, however, says that quarantine and embargos on the movement of people and goods are ineffective in controlling the spread of cholera and are thus unnecessary.
“Restrictions on importation of food produced by good manufacturing practices solely on the basis of the presence of cholera in a country are unjustified.”
The WHO instead calls for strengthening of local capacity for improving surveillance for early detection and diagnosis and for collecting, compiling and analysing data so that vulnerable populations in high-risk areas can be identified for comprehensive control activities.
The agency further calls on countries neighbouring cholera-affected areas to strengthen their national disease surveillance and preparedness so that they can rapidly detect and respond to outbreaks should cholera spread across borders.
Information should be provided to travellers and communities about the potential risks of cholera, its symptoms, and precautions to avoid the disease, when and where to report cases and where to seek treatment if necessary, it states.