Pretoria - Gauteng MEC for Health Qedani Mahlangu has dispatched an outbreak response team to the areas surrounding the Jukskei River following the recent flash flooding and the subsequent bursting of the river banks.
This is in a bid to mitigate any potential water borne disease outbreaks.
The Jukskei River is one of the longest rivers in Gauteng and flows through several industrialised and semi-rural areas hence it is always heavily contaminated.
Some of the impoverished residents of Alexandra with shacks along the river banks sometimes access water from this river for domestic purposes.
“Although no cases have been reported yet, the outbreak team is currently educating people about E. Coli infections which lie squarely on both domestic and environmental sanitations in order to alleviate any possible disease outbreak resulting from this bacterial contamination,” said the provincial department.
Residents around the area are urged to wash their hands with soap and water before eating and after visiting the bathroom as well as wash fruit and vegetables before consumption.
Furthermore, residents are requested to avoid defecating in the open veld as the human waste is swept into the river by the rain, illegal dumping of any type of waste into lakes and rivers and drinking of any water with unknown origin or the water must be boiled before consumption.
“The Gauteng Department of Health Outbreak Response Teams is on high alert. Health promotion and social mobilisation activities around E. coli and other water borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera are ongoing in the surrounding areas.
“Health facilities in and around catchment areas of the Jukskei River are also on high alert against all types of diarrheal diseases,” said the department. – SAnews.gov.za
