Cholera death toll rises to 17 in South Africa

JOHHANESBURG: A total of 17 people have died of cholera since its recent outbreak in Hammanskraal, north of South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria, the Department of Health in Gauteng Province said.

To date, the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera has reached 29, while 17 people have passed on from the disease outbreak, the department said on Wednesday in a statement. A total of 165 people have been treated since the recent cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal.

South Africa detected its first two cholera cases in early February and recorded the first cholera death in late February, Xinhua news agency reported.

Motalatale Modiba, the spokesperson for the department, urged the public presenting with diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and dehydration symptoms to report to their nearest health facilities for medical treatment.