MORE than 200 residents including school children in Empumalanga’s DRC suburb in Hwange were on Thursday and Friday taken ill following a diarrhoea outbreak suspected to have been caused by a sewage leak into the water system.

Officials suspect that 3 000 more residents could be exposed to the water borne infection. An emergency Civil Protection Committee was hastily arranged on Friday to try and deal with the problem.

Speaking at the meeting, Hwange Local Board Environment Health technician, Mr Nqobile Mabhena said they suspected the outbreak was a result of cross contamination emanating from a suspected leak in the water pipeline that supplies the area.

“Although Zinwa and council have not pinpointed the source or exactly where this cross contamination took place there is suspicion that it’s at a river crossing where a sewage stream flows. In the suspected area there is a stream of raw sewage from burst pipes that flows over the pipes supplying water to residents in DRC so that could be our cross contamination point.

We suspect that sewage water which would have heavily accumulated in the water supply pipeline is pushed up when supplies are restored. The whole Phase Three has been affected by this and as on Thursday, 53 cases had been reported at our clinic today (Friday) the number had increased to 93. This number excludes the ones that went to seek treatment at other health institutions such as St Patrick’s and Hwange Colliery hospitals,” said Mr Mabhena.

Hwange District Medical Officer Dr Seleman Saidi, however, said they were yet to confirm if the outbreak was caused by diarrhoea.
“We are yet to ascertain if it’s a diarrhoea outbreak and as for the number that have been taken ill we are yet to get confirmation on that. However, for a Press statement contact the PMD,” he said.

Dr Saidi said the number of affected people could increase owing to delays in locating the point of cross contamination.State media