Namibia has confirmed the first case of cholera in ten years, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday, adding that laboratory confirmation of the disease was “a major alert” for the country's health officials.
The patient, a 55-year-old woman exhibiting symptoms of diarrhoea, has recovered and was discharged from a hospital in the country's northwest Kunene region, Namibia's health ministry said on Tuesday.
However, the case prompted officials to “reinforce the system and work on the determinants of the cholera response,” Africa CDC head Jean Kaseya told an online briefing.
“This region that is bordering Angola is explaining why we have this case,” he said, adding that an outbreak of cholera in the neighbouring Southern African country since January had killed 237 people out of 6,564 cases.
Meanwhile, Namibia's health ministry said the patient had no recent travel history outside the country.