AFP — Yangon city authorities say a total of 500 people have been hospitalised with severe diarrhoea in Myanmar's largest city, with nearly 150 testing positive for cholera.
Myanmar's infrastructure and public health sector are being shaken by a civil war that has lasted more than five years, has claimed more than 100,000 lives, and by a deteriorating economy.
Since 9 August, 500 patients have been admitted to hospital with diarrhoea — a key symptom of cholera — the regional minister for social affairs said.
His remarks represent the first official confirmation of cholera involvement, coming more than one week after the first patients were hospitalised.
He added that rapid cholera test kits had returned positive results for 149 patients, and that nine of those had been officially confirmed by the National Health Laboratory as infected with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.
Cholera is an infectious disease causing severe diarrhoea, contracted through contaminated food or water, and can be fatal within hours if left untreated.
The World Health Organization describes it as a global public health threat and an indicator of inequity and lack of social and economic development.
More than 100 new patients were admitted to hospital on Thursday, the minister said, but new cases have begun to decline since then.
There were earlier reports that a 92-year-old patient had died after being hospitalised with diarrhoea, but the Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Sunday, citing authorities, that the man had died from pre-existing heart and lung conditions. The report also noted that public health officials are conducting epidemiological surveillance and implementing outbreak-control measures in the affected areas.
