Cholera Has in these early and dry months of the year struck in three districts of the Eastern Region: Akuapem North, Akuapem South and Suhum Kraboa Coaltar, killing nine out of the 42 people infected.
Chances are that the disease might spread and cause worse damage, even though the Disease Control Unit of the Ministry of Health here is working around the clock to stem it.
Dr. Aaron Offei, Regional Director of Health Services who disclosed the outbreak explained that majority of people are now drinking unhygienic water in the face of the acute water shortage that his hit most settlements in the region.
"By weekending 17th February 2001, we had detected 42 cases with nine deaths and the situation is such that we have to appeal to the district assemblies to help contain the water problem and improve sanitation in their communities as a matter of urgency", he said.
The episodes of cholera have been common especially in the rainy seasons. But the attacks in the dry period seems to warn that an escalating trend that has been established over the past three years will be maintained and worsened. In 1997, a relatively small number of 82 cases were reported.
It killed seven people. The following year, 548 cases involving 20 deaths were recorded. As if that was not alarming enough, 1,325 cases cropped up in year 2000. And it killed 37. So over the last three years, up to December 31, 2000, 1,955 people were infected with cholera and 64 died of the disease. That is in 36 months. Then in one-and-a-half months this year, nine people have died in an attack infecting 42 people.
Last year in particular, the disease seemed to have spread everywhere.
"Reporting of cholera was widespread among the districts. 12 out of the 15 districts in the region were involved", the director recalled. And the 1,288 who survived the diarrhea episodes, only 60% reported to a health facility and were seen, treated and discharged.
Another observation he made was that more districts were involved in the reporting during the months of August and September.
Dr. Aaron Offei, however, did not think the yearly increases in the cases were solely attributable to actual increases in infection.
According to him the "relative increase in cases can partly be attributed to the increase in sensitivity of the surveillance system to epidemic prone diseases that culminated in more laboratory examinations to confirm investigations." He further claimed that the cases fatality rate had rather seen a decline. That is "from 8.5% (1998), 3.6% (1999) to 2.8% (2000)."
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the news is that the Afram Plains District which is noted for its multiple disease because of its vast and remote nature, compounded by near absence of health facilities - was among the three districts that remained cholera-free in year 2000. The other two were Asuogyaman and East Akyem, according to Dr. Offei.
In a related issue, reported cases of guinea worm were reduced from 241 in 1999 to 97 (59.7% reduction) last year, according to figures obtained from the Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, Dr. Aaron Offei.
Another part of the good news, he said, was that whereas in 1999, as many as 56 villages reported one or more cases of guinea worm, only 34 villages reported the infestation.
The reports of the worm infection began attracting publicity in 1998 when a total of 121 cases were found throughout the Eastern Region, after decades of few reported cases.
In that year, the Afram Plains district alone recorded 81 cases, followed by Birim North (16), Birim South (5) and West Akyem (4).
Seven other districts had between one and three cases that year.
Then the reported cases shot up to 241 the following year, thereby, almost doubling.
Once again, the Afram Plains topped the list with a frightening figure of 169; Birim North maintained her second position with 47 and New Juaben, which had recorded only three in 1998, came up with 12 cases. West Akyem had six; Manya Krobo three, Suhum and Birim South had two each and Yilo Krobo had one.
Answering a question on containment of the disease, Dr. Offei said 87.6% of the 97 cases seen in year 2000 were contained.
The 12.4% remaining were those "whose worms emerged before reporting. Therefore, these cases did not meet our definition of case containment."
To control the vector from spreading, the director disclosed that 327 out of 366 treatable ponds in guinea worm infected villages and suspected villages had been treated with abate.
"This is 89.3% coverage. The 10.6% left were due to the fact that those ponds flow during the rainy season and the difficulty we encountered in trying to reach other ponds that are located in very remote areas."
He indicated that both case containment and vector control had effectively reduced the spread of the disease and that it could be eradicated completely from the region in the near future.
He buttressed this with the fact that of the 97 cases reported last year, only 41 actually originated from the Eastern Region.
As he explained, 56 or 57.7% of those identified with the disease had migrated with it from the Volta, Brong-Ahafo and Northern regions.
