The problem with water

Residents washing food and utensils in the waters of the Congo river near the village of Ngamanzo in the municipality of Maluku, Kinshasa province. The area is under surveillance by medical officials for signs of cholera following an epidemic last March that started at Kisangani in the north-east before spreading west, along the Congo River infecting some 3,700 and killing more than 250. Six weeks ago, the clinic at Ngamanzo identified its first case of cholera, a man from Dilolo. Since then, at least a dozen patients have been identified as infected including a 35-year-old woman who succumbed to the illness. When the disease appeared, residents of Ngamanzo refused to refrain from drinking river-water; “They say God created the water, they began taking it long ago and there has never been a problem,” says Gilbert Kanyinda, a health worker.