Cholera sweeps Madagascar

Nairobi - A fast-moving cholera epidemic has killed at least 170 people on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar in the past …

Nairobi - A fast-moving cholera epidemic has killed at least 170 people on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar in the past month, an international relief agency said yesterday.

It is the first cholera epidemic to hit Madagascar but is spreading fast and has already moved from the remote north-western province of Mahajanga to the capital, Antananarivo.

"Nowhere in the East Africa region is now safe from cholera," Mr David Dofara of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies said.