Cholera cases have been increasing in Ghana over the past days due to heavy rains hitting the north, contaminating water supplies with sewage, and the population has been advised to take preventive measures. Medical and environmental officials in the Obuasi Municipality are battling to control a cholera outbreak that has claimed one life and left more than 50 people hospitalised. Luanda - At least 194 cases of cholera have been detected in one province of southern Angola since December 20, local media reported. Despite massive energy wealth, according to the national statistics institute 42% of the population has access to safe drinking water and 53% have toilets in their home.
The country was rocked by 18,390 cases of cholera in 2007, and in 2012 some 200 people died of the disease. Cholera is a disease that preys on mostly the disadvantaged who normally live in areas where sanitation is a major challenge. Most people contract cholera through drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated by the cholera bacteria. Symptoms patients carried to the hospitals included severe diarrhoea and vomiting, some accompanied by severe dehydration. Unless intravenous fluids are given to rehydrate patients, they can die within 24 hours.
Diplomats expressed concern that the government is not sharing information about the outbreak in a timely fashion. The government did not respond to repeated requests for comment and made no experts available to discuss the cholera situation. The health ministry stressed that it was taking preventive measures to put the disease on the path to extinction.
Several health centers in Havana instituted a policy requiring visitors to sanitize shoes by stepping in chlorine upon entering. State schools are stressing hand washing and other hygienic measures treating the condition – but those are only simple measures. However, the clean water and rehydration salts required are often in short supply in areas where they are needed most. An outbreak of cholera can spread quickly in areas where there is poor sanitation and where water supplies can be tainted.
In Haiti since the beginning of the epidemic on 31 Dec 2012, the total number of cholera cases has reached 635980, of which, 7912 were deaths. In the Dominican Republic, since the beginning of the epidemic, the total number of suspected cholera cases reported was 29 433 from which 422 died. In Cuba, the cumulative number of confirmed cholera cases in 2012 reached around 500.
Children and the elderly are vulnerable to dangerous dehydration as a result. Food and water hygiene is of primary concern, all travellers should learn to protect themselves we recommend the vaccine to travellers going to at risk areas who may not be able to be able to source well cooked food or boiled water
Cholera vaccine is an oral vaccine - a course of two - which protects for two years and also gives some protection against some kinds of traveller’s diarrhoea for up to six months, available from The Travel Clinic Ltd.
Most people infected with cholera don't actually get ill, despite this; they are contributing to the problem because the bacteria remain in their faeces for up to a fortnight. Most symptomatic cases are hard to distinguish from other illnesses that cause diarrhoea - it is only in one in 10 that severe symptoms such as dehydration occur.
A well-organised response to cholera, says the World Health Organization, can reduce death rates to 1%. An unprepared community, however, will experience many times this death rate, it says.
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