Cholera prompts state of emergency in Iraq province | Reuters
HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - Officials in Iraq’s Babil province declared a state of emergency on Monday after an outbreak of cholera in the area.
Cholera has killed eight people and infected 20 others in the past three days in Babil, south of Baghdad, officials said at a news conference. Ihsan Jaafar, general director of public health at the Health Ministry in Baghdad, said only two fatalities had been confirmed.
Some 500 other people in the province were suspected to have contracted the disease, which can sometimes kill victims with sudden severe diarrhea, the local officials said.
A representative for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq said the body was still gathering information and would announce its findings soon.
Ambulances patrolled Babil markets warning people through loudspeakers to be careful about where they bought their food and drink and how it was prepared, a Reuters witness said. It was unclear what other measures the state of emergency entailed.
Scarcity of water during Iraq’s scorching summer forces many to drink water from unsafe sources. More than 4,000 cases of cholera were confirmed in Iraq last year, killing at least 24.
The disease then jumped into neighboring Iran, the WHO said at the time.
Babil borders Baghdad, where Jaafar on Sunday said six people had been diagnosed with cholera. The Babil victims brought total infections in Iraq in the past week to 27, including three fatalities, he said.
The dead include a boy who died of the disease in southern Maysan province, where the government said on Monday it had dispatched a delegation from the Environment Ministry to combat its spread.
Cholera is characterized in its most severe form by a sudden onset of acute watery diarrhea that can sometimes cause death by severe dehydration and kidney failure within hours. It is mainly transmitted through contaminated water and food.
Water and sewage are a perennial challenge in Iraq, where war and neglect have hindered the overhaul of public works.
Iraq is trying to control cholera by early diagnosis, distributing sterilization tablets and an awareness campaign
Cholera prompts state of emergency in Iraq province | Health | Reuters
Indexed under: Babil (Governorate), Cholera, Cholera - confirmed fatalaties 2008, Hilla, Reuters, الكوليرا