Cholera cases pass 3,000 mark IOL 27 January 2009 Johannesburg - The number of cholera patients in Limpopo has passed the 3 000 mark since an outbreak hit the province almost three months ago, the provincial health department said on Tuesday.
Spokesman Phuti Seloba said a total of 3 114 people affected by cholera had been through the province's health facilities since November last year.
These cases included 82 people between Monday and Tuesday afternoon.
A total of 11 lives had been lost to the disease in the province.
African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and Health Minister Barbara Creecy visited patients in Musina in the Vhembe District on Tuesday.
Vhembe, together with Sekhukhune and Capricorn districts, was identified by Limpopo health MEC Seoparo Charles Sekoati as having the highest number of cholera patients with 68 new cases treated in the areas since Monday. Zuma and Creecy arrived in the province to the news that the Tubatse river which had been contaminated with cholera in parts, had since been cleared of the disease.
However, a canal in Tsakane had tested positive for E-coli and Vibrio Cholerae.
Greater Sekhukhune District Municipality spokesman Sizwe Yende said laboratory tests indicated that water sources in most villages located along the Tubatse river were no longer contaminated with the disease.
Recent tests were conducted on samples taken from water sources in Ga-Mampuru, Ga-Phasha, Steelpoort, Nazareth and Tsakane villages.
Yende said though the results on the Tubatse river came as a relief, it did not mean that the municipal water authority and its partners would rest on their "laurels".
It would continue to implement its initial plans to curb the outbreak. - Sapa
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