GUINEA-BISSAU: National cholera day declared as deaths double in fortnight

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BISSAU, 24 August 2005 (IRIN) - The number of deaths from cholera in Guinea-Bissau has more than doubled in the last fortnight, with statistics released by the health ministry on Wednesday showing that the water-borne disease has now killed 177 people and infected more than 9,000. Trying to halt a spiralling epidemic, the government on Wednesday banned all traditional ceremonies and put a stop to water and food being sold at the markets. "If people don't change their habits, the government won't have the means to stop this cholera," government spokesman Daniel Gomes told reporters. Authorities also declared Wednesday a public holiday dedicated to fighting cholera. But residents in the capital, Bissau, said that although soldiers, policemen and some students had taken to the streets to help with the clean-up operation, many government workers and others simply took advantage of a day off work. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by consuming contaminated food or water. It can quickly cause severe dehydration leading to death although a simple mix of water, sugar and salts is enough to save many. Two weeks ago, the United Nations appealed for US $104,000 to help combat the cholera outbreak in a country where resources are so tight that the government needs the international community's help just to pay state salaries every month. A senior UN official said donations of medicine had come in from France and Portugal, but more was needed. "What has been given already is enough to cover us for one or two weeks and after that we'll need additional resources," Michel Balima, the UN resident co-ordinator in Guinea-Bissau, told IRIN by telephone. Some 9,200 cases of cholera have now been recorded since the epidemic erupted in mid-June, up from 5,330 just two weeks ago. And the death toll shows no sign of slowing either, up from 83 two weeks ago to 177 today. Health officials in the small West African country say they are still seeing about 110 new cases of cholera every day. Although Bissau -- a city of 300,000 built on low-lying land on the banks of a muddy river estuary -- has borne the brunt of the epidemic, cholera has also spread to eight of Guinea-Bissau's nine regions. The region of Bafata, which until recently was cholera-free, has now seen eight cases and one death, leaving Gabou as the only region to have escaped the disease. Though the epidemic is most serious in Guinea-Bissau, seven other West African countries -- Liberia, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger -- have all seen cholera outbreaks erupt this year too.