Cameroon records more than 200 new cases of cholera

DOUALA, Cameroon

Cameroon's Health Minister Manaouda Malachie ordered vigilance Tuesday as he reported 226 new cases of cholera in the Littoral and South-West regions.

The cases include 126 incidents and two deaths in Littoral and 100 in the South-West without any deaths from "March 23 to April 05, 2022,” according to Malachie.

Cameroon has recorded 4,627 cases and 105 deaths with a case-fatality rate of 2.3%, he said in a new report.

"The situation is under control,” he said on March 29.

That was evaluating response mechanism in the South-West and one week after the announcement of "an outbreak of cases" in the region between March 16 and 22.

More than 300 cases and 27 deaths were reported Feb. 2 with 16 cases and two deaths in the nation’s capital of Yaounde.

The cholera epidemic is also rampant in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where authorities have launched a massive vaccination campaign in several provinces, including South Kivu, where 17 people died of the disease Dec. 5, according to media reports.

During the first nine weeks of 2022, there were 3,867 cases and 54 deaths reported, with 39% of incidents registered in South Kivu and 57% of deaths from Haut-Lomami province, according to the National Program for the Elimination of Cholera and the Fight against Other Diarrheal Diseases in DRC (PNECHOL-MD).