More than 30 residents of Shushu village outside King William’s Town were rushed to hospital yesterday after falling ill.
They had high temperatures, headaches, stomach cramps, diarrhoea and were vomiting.
Health spokesman Siyanda Manana, said 24 people had been admitted to Grey Hospital yesterday after a family of five from Shushu were taken to hospital dsiplaying similar symptoms on Wednesday.
“We sent patient transport vehicles back to the village where we found 13 more (ill) people whom we took to Bhisho Hospital because Grey was full,” Manana said yesterday morning.
The department sent a health team to the village to investigate the cause of the outbreak and to take samples of drinking water.
Water tanks were dispatched to the village even though suspicions of contaminated drinking water were not confirmed.
Manana said they had fielded so many calls from villagers requesting ambulances, that call centre staff picked up that something was amiss. Manana said: “The whole village is affected and the outbreak team was activated immediately.”
Siyanda Tshemese, 27, who was admitted to Grey hospital, said she suffered severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea on Monday night. Nearly half of her family were also kept behind in hospital.
Tshemese said she could not understand why she had fallen ill, as she felt she had had eaten nothing out the ordinary that could have affected her.
Two children aged four and nine were also affected by the mystery outbreak.
Mntuxolo Mbali, 33, said he was admitted with an intense headache on Tuesday night. Yesterday Mbali was still in pain and was clueless as to what had caused the illness.
Lizo Mjacu, 29, fell sick on Tuesday morning but was feeling better yesterday.
Health workers went door-to-door to check if more people needed attention.
Preliminary findings were that older people had been worst affected by the mystery illness.
Early suspicions are that one of two water supply pipes from a borehole was contaminated, but there was no conclusive evidence.
An environmental team who arrived yesterday declined to divulge further details, saying only that the investigation was still ongoing.
Yesterday they took samples of the tap water, tank water and some of the food that the villagers had consumed.
The health workers and some villagers gathered at the Tshemese homestead shared by 21 family members, nine of whom have been hospitalised.
Thembeka Tshemese, who was not affected by the outbreak, said they had enjoyed running water for over a decade and had never seen anything like this before.
“We don’t know how we escaped this. They were so weak, they didn’t sleep all night. They couldn’t make it to the outside toilet. We had to put five buckets outside for them,” she said.
Thembeka said all they had consumed in the past two days was mnqusho (samp and beans), and amarhewu, a drink brewed with mealie meal and yeast. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
Mystery illness lays village low
They had high temperatures, headaches, stomach cramps, diarrhoea and were vomiting.
Health spokesman Siyanda Manana, said 24 people had been admitted to Grey Hospital yesterday after a family of five from Shushu were taken to hospital dsiplaying similar symptoms on Wednesday.
“We sent patient transport vehicles back to the village where we found 13 more (ill) people whom we took to Bhisho Hospital because Grey was full,” Manana said yesterday morning.
The department sent a health team to the village to investigate the cause of the outbreak and to take samples of drinking water.
Water tanks were dispatched to the village even though suspicions of contaminated drinking water were not confirmed.
Manana said they had fielded so many calls from villagers requesting ambulances, that call centre staff picked up that something was amiss. Manana said: “The whole village is affected and the outbreak team was activated immediately.”
Siyanda Tshemese, 27, who was admitted to Grey hospital, said she suffered severe stomach cramps and diarrhoea on Monday night. Nearly half of her family were also kept behind in hospital.
Tshemese said she could not understand why she had fallen ill, as she felt she had had eaten nothing out the ordinary that could have affected her.
Two children aged four and nine were also affected by the mystery outbreak.
Mntuxolo Mbali, 33, said he was admitted with an intense headache on Tuesday night. Yesterday Mbali was still in pain and was clueless as to what had caused the illness.
Lizo Mjacu, 29, fell sick on Tuesday morning but was feeling better yesterday.
Health workers went door-to-door to check if more people needed attention.
Preliminary findings were that older people had been worst affected by the mystery illness.
Early suspicions are that one of two water supply pipes from a borehole was contaminated, but there was no conclusive evidence.
An environmental team who arrived yesterday declined to divulge further details, saying only that the investigation was still ongoing.
Yesterday they took samples of the tap water, tank water and some of the food that the villagers had consumed.
The health workers and some villagers gathered at the Tshemese homestead shared by 21 family members, nine of whom have been hospitalised.
Thembeka Tshemese, who was not affected by the outbreak, said they had enjoyed running water for over a decade and had never seen anything like this before.
“We don’t know how we escaped this. They were so weak, they didn’t sleep all night. They couldn’t make it to the outside toilet. We had to put five buckets outside for them,” she said.
Thembeka said all they had consumed in the past two days was mnqusho (samp and beans), and amarhewu, a drink brewed with mealie meal and yeast. — vuyiswav@dispatch.co.za
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