| GEO World | | Typhoid, cholera feared in cyclone-hit Fiji | Updated at: 1351 PST, Monday, March 22, 2010
SUVA: A UN disaster official expressed fears Monday of a typhoid and cholera outbreak in Fiji following a cyclone last week that killed three people and destroyed more than 370 homes.
Hamish Weatherly, the Pacific emergency coordinator for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said there was a risk of the potentially deadly waterborne disease typhoid spreading rapidly after the major storm. There had already been a typhoid outbreak before the category four Cyclone Tomas hit the north and east of Fiji on Monday and Tuesday last week with winds averaging 175 kilometers (110 miles) an hour.
"UNICEF Pacific office is responding to the emergency with specific attention to water, sanitation and hygiene, given that cases of typhoid and cholera are likely to rise in the coming days," Weatherly said. Fiji's health authorities reported three cases of diarrhoea with blood, a possible sign of typhoid, on a northern island.
The Ministry of Health warned people to boil water or use purification tablets before drinking it.
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