Cholera kills 115 in Somalia
A cholera outbreak in Somalia has killed more than 115 people and hospitalized 724 in towns where people were forced to use contaminated water from a flooded river, doctors said Wednesday.
Tests conducted by the international group Doctors Without Borders confirmed the cholera outbreak in towns along the Shabelle River. The river flooded this year, leaving tens of thousands homeless in a country with little ability to respond because it in effect lacks a government.
“At least 115 people, 53 of them children, have died from cholera in four districts in the last four weeks,” said Dr. Abdulahi Hussein Malin, who works in a hospital in Jawhar.
Infants have been especially affected, said Dr. Hawo Abdi Mumin, who works with the Somalian Red Crescent Society.
“People use water from the river, which is contaminated because of the floods, because they have no access to clean water.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
