The first cholera death in South Africa in more than ten years was reported by health authorities on Thursday.
South Africa, which has five cases since early February, does not have an endemic cholera outbreak.
The first two of those were from Malawi, which is reeling from one of the bloodiest cholera outbreaks in recent memory.
A 24-year-old guy from Benoni, a neighbourhood east of Johannesburg, is the victim in South Africa.
According to a statement from the office of Health Minister Joe Phaahla, he had no prior history of travel outside the nation and passed away on Sunday at a hospital.
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Laboratory results later confirmed he had cholera.
South Africa last suffered an outbreak of the waterborne disease between 2008 and 2009, when around 12,000 cases were recorded after a huge outbreak in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
This time the disease spread from Malawi where at least 1,400 people have died out of nearly 45,000 cases reported since March 2022, according to the United Nations.
Other southern African countries including Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe recently recorded cases.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters two weeks ago that there were 23 countries experiencing cholera outbreaks, with a further 20 nations that share land borders with them at risk.
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Cholera, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water.
AFP
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