Suspected diarrhoea cases in Byo

THERE are fears of a diarrhoea outbreak at Bulawayo’s Western Commonage Police Camp with the city council dispatching officials to the facility to test its water for bacterial content.

Sources at the camp revealed that a number of people have been rushed to hospital in the past couple of weeks with running tummies resulting in fears of a possible diarrhoea outbreak.

Although the local authority has allayed fears that the ailment could be diarrhoea they confirmed that the water at the camp was contaminated with coliform bacteria.

According to atsenvironmental.com the coliform bacteria in drinking water can indicate a possible presence of harmful, disease-causing organisms.

“These organisms are called pathogens and can be viruses, protozoa or bacteria. Common examples of these pathogens are dysentery and hepatitis,” reads part of the definition.

The council’s senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, confirmed that the local authority had dispatched officials to investigate the matter, with water samples collected to ascertain the bacterial content.

“Cases of diarrhoea have not been brought to the attention of the municipality. While the problem is purely confined to West Commonage Camp, the council laboratory did collect samples for testing from within the camp and surrounding premises.

“Preliminary test results show that the water collected within the camp was contaminated with coliform bacteria, whereas that collected from surrounding premises was free from bacteriological contamination,” she said.

The council spokesperson further revealed that investigations conducted by the local authority showed that the problem which had caused the contamination emanated from the piping system within the camp.

She said the camp’s plumbers had committed to rectify the problem noting that there was a possibility of cross contamination between the camp’s sewer and water pipelines.

“The West Commonage issue is an internal problem confined to the camp which should be rectified by their plumbers.

“There is a need for the authorities at West Commonage to trace their water and sewer lines to check pipe breakages that could be resulting in cross contamination. Water supplied by Bulawayo City Council to the camp is of good quality as seen by samples collected from neighbouring premises,” said Mrs Mpofu.

The latest council report confirmed that last month four cases of diarrhoea were recorded in Nketa with the local authority further dispatching a team to investigate the matter as the cases were recorded on a single day.

“Diarrhoea cases have been reported recently. Residents suspected that was caused by the sewer bursts and unclean drinking water,” reads the report.