Saturday, January 24, 2009

Zimbabwe Cholera update

Since we mentioned Cholera again this week I thought I'd pass on the latest news, and it isn't good.

The World Health Organization now puts the total number of deaths from cholera in Zimbabwe at 2,773 as of Thursday while the number of cases since August has exceeded 50,000. The disease has also spread to neighboring South Africa.

Even more concerning, the fatality rate continued to rise to 5.7% compared with the international norm of about 1%.

The situation is being exacerbated by the onset of the rainy season, by a movement of the disease to more rural areas and by Zimbabwe's economic turmoil. The Zimbabwe dollar is virtually worthless, because of hyperinflation. Last week, a new Z$100 trillion note was launched - worth about US$30.

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