
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 17, 1994                   TAG: 9403170165
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA                                LENGTH: Medium

CHOLERA EPIDEMIC SPREADING QUICKLY

An outbreak of cholera first noticed in Somalia last month has become an epidemic, with more than 100 people already dead and the toll growing daily.

Christian Clark, a spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund, expressed concern Wednesday that efforts to control the epidemic could be jeopardized by the withdrawal of Western military forces.

The United States, Germany, Italy, France and several other nations are removing their troops from the U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia by the end of March.

With them are going helicopters and airplanes that for more than a year have often been put at the disposal of U.N. and private aid agencies, allowing them access to parts of the country unreachable over land.

``It's a real worry,'' Clark said. ``Our ability to get around could be severely restricted.''

Cholera was first detected in the northern port of Bosaso a little more than a month ago. Since then, it has spread 1,000 miles south to Kismayu and to a number of points in between.

In Bosaso, 664 people have contracted the disease, and at least 22 have died, Clark said. He said there were unconfirmed reports of 256 cases and 42 deaths in Belet Huen, near the Ethiopian border in central Somalia

In Kismayu, 250 miles south of Mogadishu on the Indian Ocean, 261 cases have been confirmed the past four days, Clark said. Mogadishu itself has reported 431, with an unconfirmed number of deaths.

Cholera is a viral disease most commonly contracted by drinking impure water. Its symptoms include high fever, vomiting and diarrhea that leave its victims critically dehydrated.

Diagnosed and properly treated early, it is not usually fatal. But in places like Somalia, with little sanitation and severe shortages of medical personnel, medicine and hospitals, it can be a ravaging killer.

When American troops first came to Somalia in December 1992 to help break a deadly famine then scourging the country, they were given a Defense Department pamphlet that described Somalia as perhaps the unhealthiest country on Earth.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB