After One Casualty, Cholera ‘Under Control’ in Pyay

By Kaung Myat Min 27 July 2016

PYAY, Pegu Division — A recent cholera outbreak in Pyay District of Pegu Division is now under control, according to Pegu Division Chief Minister Win Thein.

The July 11 outbreak led to the hospitalization of around 140 people and resulted in one death, according to Pyay General Hospital in Pyay Township, where cholera patients were treated. According to the hospital, almost half of their patients were suffering from cholera and the rest were being treated for diarrhea.

The hospital received the last two diarrhea patients on Monday, July 25, and treated six diarrhea patients on Tuesday, according to Dr. Tin Shun, the medical superintendent of the hospital.

As he inspected preventative measures against cholera in Pyay’s Na Win ward, which was hardest hit by the disease, the Pegu Division chief minister told reporters on Tuesday evening that the epidemic had been successfully dealt with.

“According to the report from the Health Department, it can be said that the disease is under control. The disease did not spread and is affecting less and less people,” said Win Thein.

The chief minister also added that his divisional government is planning to establish a lab in Pyay town, to better protect against and test for such diseases in the future.

“We have dispatched health staff to affected areas, and asked the Food and Drug Administration to test food and water sources there. But there is no lab here and we have to send the samples to the lab in Yangon. We have a plan to set up labs in western Pegu,” he said.