Twenty-two people have died of cholera in Niger since the beginning of September, the health minister said Friday, pushing up the official death toll from the outbreak, AP reported. The West African country experienced heavy rains starting in July, and ensuing floods destroyed houses and swamped latrines throughout the south of Niger, leaving thousands homeless, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Minister Kabaou Mahamane said 285 cases of cholera had been reported between Sept. 1 and Sept. 22, with 22 deaths. Last week, the U.N. reported 214 cases and 18 deaths since Sept. 1. Cholera is transmitted through contaminated water and is linked to poor hygiene and inadequate sanitation. Though it can be treated easily, the disease is a major killer in developing countries and outbreaks are not unusual in Africa. The Niger outbreak has been most severe in the southern town of Zinder, with 171 cases reported and 11 dead, Mahamane said. The town of about 200,000 _ Niger's second-largest city _ was one of the hardest hit by floods. Kabaou said a coalition of government and international organizations were working to contain the disease, among them the U.N., Care International and the Niger Red Cross. A representative for Doctors Without Borders, one of the members of the task force, said the effort is starting to show success. «It has been on the edge of getting out of control, but right now, today, it looks like something that's under control,» Tom White, Niger desk officer for the group's Switzerland unit, said by phone from Geneva. «In Zinder we're looking at something between 10 and 20 cases presenting each day, which is not too serious,» White said. «Initially the cases were coming in late and it was quite serious.»
