Warren Park 1 has been hit by a diarrhoea outbreak with over 200 people from the suburb treated in the past four days. No fatalities were reported.

It is suspected that a contaminated borehole from which the residents draw drinking water was to blame.

Harare City Council director of Health Services Dr Prosper Chonzi confirmed the outbreak and said water samples from both the borehole and municipal supplied taps have since been taken to the laboratory for tests.

"We have taken several samples from the sources of water to the laboratory for tests but we suspect that these people drank contaminated water," Dr Chonzi said.

Dr Chonzi said since December 31, 2011 a total of 210 people across all age groups have been treated for diarrhoea at Warren Park 1 Polyclinic - a figure he described as well above the normal cases expected during the rainy season. Residents interviewed said on Christmas day they went to fetch water from the borehole on the premises of the same polyclinic, they noticed something amiss, but went on to drink it anyway.

"It looked completely different from all the other days. It was reddish-brown in colour as if it was rusty and had some particles at the bottom," said a vegetable vendor who identified herself as Amai Dumba.

"At that moment I did not realise that it had a bad odour, but when I was about to take a sip, I realised that it was smelling bad. I only took one sip and failed to finish the cup because of the smell," she added.

Mrs Dumba said since that day 14 members of her family including herself have been having severe diarrhoea.

"I strongly feel that the water was contaminated because since that day, all my children and grandchildren have been having diarrhoea."

Mrs Dumba said the family have preferred borehole to tap water since the 2008 cholera outbreak and have never had stomach problems. She and her family have since resorted to tap water for drinking.

Another resident, Mrs Letwin Kamutanga whose 16-months-old baby is battling with diarrhoea appealed to responsible authorities to equip the polyclinic with all the needed provisions and staff.

Mrs Kamutanga said her baby, Takunda started having watery stools on the 26th and has not recovered since then. She took him to the polyclinic and on returning for a review with the boy this past Monday and was referred to Parirenyatwa Hospital for further assistance.

"My baby is in pain. He is not eating, he is just having diarrhoea and vomiting. I returned to the clinic yesterday because his condition is not improving but was referred to Parirenyatwa Hospital," she said.

Mrs Kamutanga said she could not go to Parirenyatwa Hospital because she did not have money to pay for associated costs such as hospitalisation. "I cannot go because I do not have money. I know children can be treated for free but with his condition I was afraid that he could be hospitalised," she said.

 Dr Chonzi said normally, borehole water is supposed to be tested for safety every week, but due to scarce resources, they were checks are carried out a monthly. Dr Chonzi said generally, cases of diarrhoea reported across Harare rise during the rainy season.

Commenting on the typhoid outbreak that hit Dzivarasekwa in November, Dr Chonzi said the outbreak has subsided and could soon be declared over.

"Typhoid cases have significantly gone down. We only received four cases over the weekend and if the trend continues, we'll declared it over."

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