Cholera
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Cholera

Cholera is a disease caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine. It makes people sick, and sometimes kills them, by causing persistent diarrhea. Cholera infections are often mild, but approximately one in 20 of those infected develop severe symptoms. Once the disease has progressed to this state, death can occur within a few hours.

When the fluids lost through diarrhea are promptly replaced, cholera patients rarely die. When cholera occurs in an unprepared area, as many as 50 percent of newly infected individuals may ultimately die. People catch cholera by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated with the cholera bacterium. It spreads most rapidly in areas where public sanitation is poor and drinking water is untreated. Unlike HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, person-to-person infection is not likely.

Cholera has had an adverse impact on economic development in many countries. Families face hardships paying for hospital stays and medicine used to treat cholera. Countries face economic losses from the lost productivity of the caregivers. Productivity losses can be high, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where people do not retire, due to the lack of a social security system. Cholera can also negatively impact the tourism sector and subsequent loss of livelihoods. . The economic damage caused by cholera can be compounded by the international reaction. When Peru experienced a cholera outbreak in 1991, the country lost $770 million due to sharp drops in food exports and tourism. 

By 2005, cholera had been reported in almost 120 countries: “As the disparity between industrialized and less-developed countries grew, cholera, which previously had been a global disease, seemed to have become yet another burden to be borne by impoverished nations of the Third World.” (Britannica Encyclopedia).

To prevent cholera outbreaks, countries must provide adequate public sanitation, clean drinking water, and instruction on good food hygiene. Providing these services requires a long-term commitment of significant resources, often with the assistance of international bodies such as the WHO and the UN.

CHOLERA FACTS  

  • In 2008, The World Health Organization reported 190,130 cases of cholera, including 5,143 deaths, in 563 countries. The real number is estimated to be 3-5 million cases and 100-200 thousand deaths per year.
  • Cholera is transmitted by eating foods or drinking water that is contaminated with the cholera bacterium.
  • Approximately 75 percent of people infected with cholera do not develop any symptoms.
  • Nearly 2 billion people currently lack access to safe water, and about 2.5 billion people have no access to adequate sanitation.
  • Once a cholera infection reaches a severe state, a patient can die within 2 hours.
  • In 2007, there was an outbreak of hog cholera (classical swine fever) in Central Luzon, the Philippines, affecting nearly 3,000 hogs.
  • According to the World Health Organization, “As of 30 May 2009, 98,424 suspected cases, including 4 276 deaths (Case Fatality Rate of 4.3%) have been reported by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MoHCW) of Zimbabwe since August 2008. Fifty-five out of 62 districts in all 10 provinces have been affected.”18
  • In the aftermath of the 1994 war in Rwanda, more than 58,000 cases of cholera were reported, with 23,800 deaths, within one month.

18 Source: http://www.who.int/csr/ don/2009_06_09/en/index.html

 

 

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