Cholera

[onlyMark]

Just in case anyone hears about it, I thought I'd let you know we have a quite serious outbreak of cholera in Zambia at the moment. There is a town to the north badly affected but most of the problem is here in the capital, Lusaka.
We knew before we went away it was gaining momentum but despite the best efforts of the health authorities here, it is still increasing.
I have access to information regarding where it is specifically, i.e. where a person is found with it and whilst it was initially confined to the west of the city, there are now more an more cases, the closest being no more than a kilometre away - in effect I am directly in its path as it sweeps across from west to east.

The government, with the military have locked down all the schools and people are advised to as best as possible, avoid large gatherings. The military has also instigated a scheme of closing down the street markets, clearing out all the stalls and vigorously cleaning up the litter/mess. Unblocking drains and drainage systems etc.
Traces of the disease have also been found in a number of well known restaurants and with 74% of sampled wells being affected.
Al the right things seem to be being done but we'll see how it pans out eventually.

[kerouac2]

There is no anti cholera vaccine, I suppose? That would be too easy.

[onlyMark]

Nope. It used to be a thing to be vaccinated but not for years. Apparently is has proven to have little or no effect on prevention.

[onlyMark]

Not sure at all how I can pluck a video off Facebook and post it without it linking back to Facebook again.
Anyway, this is a short report on how the Military is asking everyone to help in clearing up the mess that is central Lusaka to avoid the cholera spreading.
When I say "asking", it is a bit more forceful than that and I know of them stopping buses passing through and getting everyone off to assist.

www.facebook.com/simonmwewalane/videos/947637065388613/

[bixaorellana]

I guess it will be nice to have the city cleaner, but I really don't understand how clearing away old lumber would affect the spread of cholera.

Do you suppose all the market produce was destroyed, as possibly being contaminated? It really sounds as though the sanitation system in the entire city might need replacing.

[Deleted]

Scary, scary...

Why do you stay Mark? (I know your wife's work is there but is she obliged to stay given the risk?)

(I just rewatched The Constant Gardener recently and reading this now has me paranoid about all that that still goes on with drug test trials in 3rd world countries and big Pharma)

[onlyMark]

Bixa, the clearing up of wood and actually other stuff that can be carried is to clear out the open drains in that area. There are ditches that get filled with rubbish and they are getting the public to remove the bigger stuff that can be hand carried away before the ditches are dug out and smaller stuff removed with the machines. here is one of them as an example in one of the markets -



The market produce doesn't need to be destroyed - there'd be no compensation given so people will remove their goods asap anyway when they saw the military moving in. Only foodstuffs would be a risk and a simple washing of them in clean water would suffice.
It would be good to update all the drainage and sewage system but that will never happen - not when the authorities pay 42 million dollars to a relative of the leader of the country for 42 fire engines that he bought from Europe for less than half that.


Casi, Mrs M is not obliged to stay but it would look bad if she left without the company deeming the risk to be great enough. The company is well informed and looks after its workers extremely well. If they feel it is bad enough they will, as they did when we were in Egypt, remove us from the country on an evacuation flight. As yet I am "in the loop" regarding all the information the company is gathering both public and private - actually Mrs M is as she is the top person for the company in the country, but she has other things to do so passes it all on to me for review.
I also do my own risk assessment relying on my experience and as long as we have a number of alternatives as regards moving out of the area/country if it gets a lot worse, then I am happy enough. When movement is restricted, that's when I start getting antsy.

It goes without saying that I would never leave and leave Mrs M here. My main job is to look after her and until the company say we should leave she will be inclined to stay, thus so will I without a shadow of a doubt. I'd never leave her to it and exit the country. Though, she trusts my judgement and even if nothing is said but I decide it is time to go, she would come with me as she trusts me more than the company.

[bixaorellana]

Okay ~ now I understand! That ditch is vile.

[cheerypeabrain]

Working for the NHS I had to have a cholera inoculation back in th rate eighties, it was one of the long list of jabs we all had to have.

Stay safe Mark....I hope the outbreak dies down soon.

[onlyMark]

I had one in the early nineties, but after that I think they stopped them, Not sure though.

[questa]

Early 90s about right. WHO declared them useless but some countries retained the requirement for a certificate, mainly to rip off tourists with "fines" or just to be pig-headed.

A friend was sailing SE Asian waters when she got cholera, Hospitalized in Jakarta and Mum flew up to look after her. They took her back to the boat and nursed her back to health. She had placed a bag of ice for the fridge onto the sink draining board and a little of the melt-water had run into the sink where the coffee cups were.

[onlyMark]

CHOLERA OUTBREAK UPDATE: JANUARY, 8TH, 2018
ZAMBIA has in the last 24 hours recorded 108 new cholera cases with one Brought-in-Dead (BID).

Today's latest figures brings the total number of cases recorded since the outbreak started in October last year to 2,673.

Local Government and Housing Minister Vincent Mwale confirmed the statistics to the media in Lusaka today.

Meanwhile,Health Minister Dr Chitalu Chilufya said all the adult Cholera cases have been moved to National Heroes stadium which has been converted into a cholera treatment centre for adults.

[kerouac2]

I was looking at the WHO statistics and saw that Zambia did not report anything to the WHO in 2016. I certainly hope that is going to change.

[Deleted]

Mark, I'm sorry I've been remiss in responding to my querie earlier on about you and the situation there with your wife and her work.

Of course I know you would never abandon ship regarding this.
That goes without saying dearheart.
Your description of the situation did however explain some of my "wonderings".

Wishing you all the best of days ahead.

[onlyMark]

No problem.