CAIRO – 20 September 2024: Hundreds of cases suffering from vomiting, diarrhea, and gastroenteritis have been reported in Upper Egypt’s Aswan over the past few days, pushing the authorities to be on alert in the city and send more medical teams to investigate cause of the spread of these symptoms.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Ministry of Health said that Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar directed to send a medical team from the preventive medicine sector to Aswan to investigate the cause of this unknown disease.

The statement added that a number of sick people admitted to several hospitals of Al Masalah, Al Sadaqa, Aswan University Hospital and Al Dawar. A total of 63 patients were hospitalized while other cases were not severe and received the necessary medicine.

Only 16 cases were discharged from the hospitals after recovery, while the others are still receiving the treatment, the statement continued.

Water samples taken from the Nile River near the affected villages tested negative for any microbiological or chemical changes.

However, the medical team and other concerned bodies in the governorate are still following up the situation and the final results to be announced after finishing their investigations.

The Ministry has advised residents to follow preventive hygiene measures to reduce the risk of gastroenteritis. These include washing hands frequently, especially after using the toilet and before meals, drinking safe water, avoiding food from street vendors, and thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables.

 

In a press conference held on Thursday, Prime Minister Mostafa Mabdouly said that medical teams have been deployed to follow up after 200 cases of illness surfaced in Aswan, reassuring citizens that the situation is being closely monitored moment by moment to determine the cause.

 

Despite the government’s assurance, Egyptian on social media voiced their concerns about the increasing cases of this disease; some attributed the reason to “possible cholera disease” originated from the civil war-stricken Sudan through the Nile River, while other says it could be due to leak of chemicals from a petrochemical factory in the governorate. They accused the government of imposing a media gag on the reason.