The Health Ministry is calling on people in the typhoid affected areas to keep out of the water catchment areas, where their drinking water originates from.

This is after visits by the Ministry to typhoid prone areas and one of the factors found as one of the major reasons why drinking water was affected, was because the villagers were farming near the catchment areas.

Ministry Spokesperson Iliesa Tora said according to health rules, villagers should only cultivate the land 200m from within the catchment area.

He said the main reason for this is because when there is rainy weather, the manure that farmers use on their plantation is washed down into the catchment area and thus affects drinking water.

Tora added that water tanks should also be cleaned out every three months, however the Ministry found out that some villages cleaned the tanks every two years, and this led to mosquitoes breeding larvae.

To date the number of typhoid cases stands at 99.

The symptoms of typhoid are prolonged fever, loss of appetite, weakness, headache, stomach pains.

Patients are advised to seek medical attention if the fever is more than three days, as typhoid fever is curable if medical advice is sought early.