EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Cholera epidemic kills 15 in capital

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DAKAR, 25 Feb 2005 (IRIN) - Some 15 people have died in a cholera outbreak in Malabo, the island capital of Equatorial Guinea, and nearly 1,000 more have fallen ill, officials at the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

“We have a confirmed epidemic of cholera,” Dr Kalambay Kalula, the WHO representative in Equatorial Guinea, told IRIN by telephone.

“The Pasteur Institute in Yaounde (Cameroon) has confirmed this afternoon that all the five samples sent to their laboratories for testing are indeed cholera,” he said.

An outbreak of accute diarrhoea suspected to be cholera first appeared in Malabo, the capital of this oil-rich Central African state, two weeks ago.

“Up to this morning, we have 15 deaths and 946 cases linked to the outbreak,” Kalula said.

Cholera is a highly infectious water-borne illness that causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea. If leads to rapid dehydration. If left untreated can result in death within hours.

The disease is frequently associated with poverty, poor sanitation and polluted drinking water.

Although the oil bonanza has brought sudden wealth to the ruling elite that surrounds President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, diplomats and aid workers say that little of the oil money has been channeled into improving living standards for the rest of the country's 500,000 population. As a result Malabo suffers from chronic water shortages and power cuts.

Severe diarrhoea outbreaks regularly occur at this time of year in Equatorial Guinea and Kalula cautioned that not all those who were presently ill were necessarily suffering from cholera.

“It is the dry season here and the weather makes things very difficult. A recent water analysis in the capital found that all water wells had diarrhoea causing bacteria,” he said.

[ENDS]