Mchinji DHO contains typhoid fever outbreak

Officials at Mchinji District Health Office (DHO) say they have contained the outbreak of typhoid fever that hit the district early this month, as only three new cases have been reported in the past two weeks.

Early this month, the hospital confirmed 18 cases of typhoid fever, all from Traditional Authority (T/A) Zulu in the district.

Mchinji District Hospital spokesperson Frank Kaphaso Nyasulu said in an interview today that all confirmed cases are being treated as out-patients.

No death has been reported in the outbreak which was first reported at Kangwere Village with other reported cases from Sepo and Chibande villages.

“To note that for a period of two weeks, we have only confirmed three cases which is a clear indication that the measures we have put in place to fight the outbreak are yielding results,” said Nyasulu.

He said the DHO has intensified sanitation and hygiene sensitisation meetings with communities to ensure that every household in the affected areas has a toilet. He said they are also distributing chlorine for treating water.

“The principle root of typhoid fever is poor sanitation and hygiene. The villages where the patients came from had no toilets and even though they fetch water from taps and boreholes, poor hygienic practices at household level makes the water unsafe,” said Nyasulu.

According to Nyasulu, out of the 35 households they visited at Kangwere Village, only 11 had pit latrines, but mostly in bad state.