ABSTRACT
In this paper we describe a dysentery outbreak in Mozambique during 1993. A total of 47,483 cases and 199 deaths were reported, with an incidence rate of 292.5/100,000 and a fatality rate of 0.25% for the whole country. Of the 144 districts in the country 123 were affected: those situated along the principal communications routes and corridors had high incidence rates, up to 3308/100,000. All the provincial capitals were affected with incidence rates between 59.6 and 4381.8/100,000. Shigella dysenteriae type 1 was identified as the aetiological agent. This strain was sensitive to nalidixic acid, cephalosporins, gentamicin and kanamycin, and resistant to tetracyclines, trimethoprim, chloramphenicol, ampicillin, sulphisoxazole, cotrimoxazol and erythromycin. This is the first dysentery epidemic caused by S. dysenteriae type 1 reported in Mozambique. The epidemic still continues. Population movements after the war, poor levels of sanitation and poverty contributed to the gravity of the outbreak.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks , Dysentery, Bacillary/epidemiology , Shigella dysenteriae , Child , Communicable Disease Control/organization & administration , Dysentery, Bacillary/drug therapy , Dysentery, Bacillary/prevention & control , Emigration and Immigration , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Incidence , Mozambique/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The results of an epidemiological analysis of cholera in Mozambique from 1973 to 1992 are described. The project sought to assess the influence of socio-economic and ecological factors the spread of cholera in a country at war. Information about the incidence of cholera and the fatality rate were related to the rainfall and the annual average growth rate of the population in the main cities. Water supply, sanitation and food hygiene were also studied. The high annual average growth rate of the population was found to have a direct linear correlation to the incidence of cholera. The drought of 1991-1992 also played an important role in the increased number of cases of the disease. Cholera has presented an endemic-epidemic pattern determined by: a) the uncontrolled growth of urban population, b) the deterioration of sanitation in urban centers, c) the unhygienic commercialization of food and d) the drought.
