Hundreds hospitalised in Yangon cholera outbreak: Minister
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
An ambulance arriving at the Yangon General Hospital in Yangon, Myanmar, on Aug 13. Some 500 people have been hospitalised in the city for severe diarrhoea since Aug 9.
PHOTO: EPA
- 500 people in Yangon were hospitalised with severe diarrhoea, with 149 testing positive for cholera, according to the regional social affairs minister.
- Myanmar's health system is struggling due to ongoing civil war and economic decline, worsening the cholera outbreak's impact.
- Health authorities are conducting surveillance and control measures, with new cases declining after a peak of over 100 admissions on August 13.
AI generated
YANGON – A total of 500 people have been hospitalised for severe diarrhoea in Myanmar’s largest city, a Yangon official said on Aug 17, with nearly 150 testing positive for cholera.
Myanmar’s infrastructure and health sector are creaking after more than five years of civil war – in which more than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed – and with the economy moribund.
Since Aug 9, 500 people have been hospitalised for diarrhoea, the key symptom of cholera, said the regional social affairs minister Bo Htay.
His comments were the first official confirmation that cholera was involved, more than a week after the first hospital admissions.
Rapid tests for cholera had shown 149 positive cases, he told Parliament for the Yangon region, which includes the country’s largest city.
Nine of them had been formally confirmed as Vibrio cholerae cases by the National Health Laboratory, he added.
Cholera is a severe diarrhoeal infection caused by consuming contaminated food or water, and can be fatal within hours if not treated.
The World Health Organization describes it as “a global public health threat” and says it “indicates inequity and lack of social and economic development”.
More than 100 new patients were admitted to hospital on Aug 13, the minister said, but new cases had since declined.
A 92-year-old patient died after being admitted to hospital with diarrhoea, but the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Aug 16 cited officials as saying that the man had succumbed to underlying heart and lung conditions.
Health personnel were carrying out “epidemiological surveillance and outbreak-control measures in affected areas”, it quoted officials as saying. AFP
