23 dead as cholera epidemic hits Yemen's Taiz

Twenty three people died in March following a cholera outbreak in Yemen's province of Taiz, officials said on Friday.

Abdul Rahim Samai, Director of the Public Health and Population Department in Taiz province, said nearly 5,488 suspected cholera cases had been registered since early January.

The health authorities recorded 335 cases of confirmed cholera, 23 of which resulted in the death of the patients, the official was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.

All the deaths had been recorded since the beginning of March and 80 per cent of the suspected cholera cases were recorded only during this month in various areas of Taiz, said Samai.

Two years after Yemen suffered its worst cholera outbreak, the number of suspected cases of the disease and acute watery diarrhoea spiked in recent weeks.

Data collected by the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Population with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that 109,000 suspected cases and 190 associated deaths were recorded between January 1 and March 17.

About one-third of the cases were children under age five, according to the statements by the organizations.

The cholera outbreak has been spreading in Yemen since October 2016, but the number of cholera cases resurged after April 2017 as the country's sewer system stopped working due to war.

The internal conflict raging between the Yemeni government forces and the Houthi rebels entered into its fifth year this week.

The epidemic in Yemen has set the world's highest record with the infection of 1 million people and over 2,000 have been confirmed dead since 2017, according to the WHO.

--IANS

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