Diarrhoea outbreak hits Thornhill High School, borehole water declared unsafe for drinking

 In an interview with The Herald yesterday, Gweru City Council health director Mr Sam Sekenhamo said the diarrhoea outbreak at Thornhill High School which saw more than 60 pupils and members of staff being hospitalised, could have been as a result of contaminated borehole water that the school was using.

Said Sekanhamo:

According to the results, the borehole water at the school fell into category D in terms of Eco line population, which means it’s highly contaminated. We have thus prohibited the use of borehole water for drinking purposes at the school. When the outbreak was reported, we dispatched our rapid response team, which comprises city health officials, health experts from the office of the Provincial Medical Director as well as those from Gweru District. They are still on the ground and what we have established is that the outbreak did not spread outside the school,

Sekanhamo dismissed reports that the outbreak was caused by Gweru City Council water noting that the outbreak did not spread outside of Thornhill High.

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