Cholera outbreak kills 8 in SW Pakistan

At least eight people, including six children, have died in a cholera outbreak in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province this week, raising the death toll to 12 over the past three weeks, local health officials said on Saturday.

The latest deaths were reported from the Cheena Khundi area of Musakhel district, where six children and two adult men lost their lives, District Health Officer Abdul Ghaffar Khetran told Xinhua.

He said medical teams from Quetta, Loralai and Barkhan have reached the affected area, while medicines were dispatched on the instructions of the provincial director general of health.

A government school has been converted into a temporary hospital to provide emergency treatment to patients, the official added.

According to health authorities, at least 14 cholera patients are currently undergoing treatment in the affected area.

Health officials have also collected water samples to determine the source of the outbreak.

xinhua