Now I knew that everyone here was being very protective towards us, both in their warnings about health and warnings about walking around in certain areas. So I thought that A. was just erring on the side of caution on our behalf. I made a remark about the place looking pretty clean, and proceeded to eat my salad.

After we'd finished eating, A. and her husband asked us we fancied going with them to Costa do Sol, a small resort area a few kilometres from Maputo. We gratefully accepted the offer and spent a lazy afternoon drinking coffee in the wonderful Costa do Sol café by the sea, which has survived all the upheavals, and is truly a relic of a bygone era. It was during our conversations over coffee that A. revealed that her 'real' profession was as a doctor, and she has spent many years treating cholera and (latterly) HIV/AIDS patients. Her warnings about eating lettuce were prompted by her knowledge that there was a major outbreak of cholera in Mozambique, with many dead, and Maputo is one of the places worse hit.

I spent a slightly worried night wondering if/when diarrhoea and dehydration might strike, and feeling very humbled. Just because a warning seems overcautious doesn't mean that there is nothing to be cautious about. Needless to say, although there is mention of the outbreak in the Portuguese-language Mozambique press and on WHO and UN web sites, there were no references at all to it on the BBC or most other Internet news services. If had caught it, would it then have made the UK news - "Cholera outbreak in Mozambique: one Briton infected"? 

Sid Verber

28th February 2004