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The number of deaths in Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has risen to 28, the media reported Sunday as the health minister announced that new antibiotics were being used after the strain of the disease became has been shown to be resistant to certain drugs.
The cholera outbreak, which was first detected in a township outside the capital Harare earlier this month, prompted the government to declare an emergency in the city after reporting at least 3,000 cases.
"Although I can not say we have contained the disease for now, we are moving quickly in all provinces of the country," Health Minister Obadiah Moyo told the Sunday Mail newspaper.
"We switched to the second line of antibiotics, azithromycin, after the first line of antibiotics – ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone – became resistant to the disease."
Moyo said that the landfills would be removed from the high-risk areas of Harare, that the sewer pipes would be repaired and that the street vendors should have stopped their work.
Authorities banned public gatherings in the city as a health measure, forcing the opposition MDC party to cancel a big rally on Saturday.
The newly appointed Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, launched last week a crowdfunding effort to raise funds to fight the epidemic by posting bank details on Twitter and calling for donations.
Cholera epidemics have occurred regularly in Zimbabwe as authorities struggle to provide clean water and sanitation facilities.
The cash – strapped country, run by Robert Mugabe since his independence in 1980 until his ousting last year, experienced his worst cholera epidemic in 2008.
In total, 4,000 people died and at least 100,000 people became ill.
UNICEF advised Zimbabweans to prevent cholera from spreading by washing hands regularly, drinking only safe water, washing the food, cooking it thoroughly and by avoiding shaking hands.
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The number of deaths from cholera in Zimbabwe has risen to 25 after the intervention of the WHO
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