A child receives oral cholera vaccine in South Sudan. Photo: Ella Glass, Courtesy of Medair (2017)

South Sudan Ministry of Health said it has stepped up surveillance in Renk County and other northern border areas following a cholera outbreak in Sudan where World Health Organization reported 4,000 cases and 161 deaths.

According to the ministry’s undersecretary, Hon. Ader Macar Aciek, health authorities at the border have tested a dozen samples of suspected cholera cases, one of which tested positive.

Dr. Aciek said the government and partners have placed northern border areas on high alert after WHO reported the active outbreak in war-torn Sudan.

“As the WHO reported an active outbreak of cholera in Sudan with over 4,000 cases and over 130 deaths recorded since 26th September 2023, MoH and partners stepped up cholera surveillance in Renk and other counties at the border,” said the official.

Sudan declared a cholera outbreak in Gedaref on 26 September, and since then, at least 5,178 suspected cholera cases, including 161 associated deaths, have been reported.

Cholera has spread to 46 localities in Aj Jazirah, Blue Nile, Gedaref, Kassala, Khartoum, Red Sea,
Sennar, South Kordofan, and White Nile states as of 28 November, according to the UN humanitarian agency.

Meanwhile, the South Sudan National Public Health Laboratory received twelve “stool samples” of suspected cholera from Renk on the 30th of November 2023, the ministry said.

“The samples were immediately tested, and one out of the twelve samples showed growth on culture media for vibrio cholerae. Further serological testing on pure isolates revealed vibrio cholerae serogroup 1 and serotype Ogawa.”

Undersecretary Aciek said in a statement on Thursday that the positive patient was a 38-year-old male returnee from Sudan.

The health official said all the other 11 negative tests are currently subjected to further PCR testing.

The health ministry advised the general public not to panic as its emergency response team, together with international health partners have put risk assessment measures in place.

Dr. Aciek said it will closely monitor the situation and provide updates.

The Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization on March 8, 2023, declared a cholera outbreak in Upper Nile State capital Malakal, with close to 600 cholera cases including two deaths.

Cholera, a waterborne disease which causes diarrhea and vomiting, is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water.