Cholera sweeps through South African province

Close to 14000 people have contracted cholera and more than 50 have died in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. The epidemic is spreading among rural dwellers with little or no running water or sanitation. It seems to have started in August after a local authority stopped supplying free water and introduced a charge to very poor people living in an informal settlement near a town called Empangeni.

The epidemic has begun to spread further, with isolated cases so far showing up in three other provinces. One of these cases …