THE Eastern Cape health department has embarked on a awareness campaign on waterborne diseases after an 11-year-old girl was hospitalised with typhoid.
Health MEC Sicelo Gqobana today, in an effort to prevent an outbreak, sent a team of nurses and environmental officers to Nqabarha near Dutywa, where the girl comes from.
Officials from Amathole District Municipality also joined in to assist with the campaign and to take water samples for testing. Stool samples have also been sent to the laboratory.
“We are going to spend the whole week in the villages. We are pulling out all stops in order to ensure that we don’t allow this case to spread and become an outbreak,” said health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo.
Kupelo, who also visited the village, said there were initially two people suspected to have typhoid, but the result for another patient has since come back negative.
“The girl was transferred to Frere Hospital where the typhoid was confirmed on August 9. Since it is contagious, she had been put in isolation,” said Kupelo, adding that the patient was now admitted at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in Mdantsane.
“The patient is progressing very well and doctors are very happy with her condition, but she is still in isolation,” he said.
Kupelo said there was no outbreak yet, but the campaign was an effort by the MEC to ensure that the situation did not develop into one.
- Daily Dispatch
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