With outbreaks recorded in 26 countries and substantial increases in mortality rates, cholera cases have risen sharply this year, especially in areas of poverty and violence, a World Health Organization official said on Friday.
Less than 20 nations typically record outbreaks of the illness each year, which is spread by the consumption of tainted food or water and can result in severe diarrhoea.
According to Philippe Barboza, WHO Team Lead for Cholera, “we are seeing a very disturbing uptick” in cholera outbreaks worldwide during the past year after years of decline.
According to him, the average death rate in Africa so far this year has nearly quadrupled compared to the five-year average and is presently over 3%.
Cholera usually only causes minor or no symptoms, but if left untreated, it can be fatal within hours.
A cholera epidemic in Syria has already claimed the lives of at least 33 people, posing a threat to those fighting on the country’s 11-year-long frontlines and inciting worry in congested displaced persons’ camps.
Barboza also raised worry about epidemics in Pakistan, where certain places are under water, as well as the Horn of Africa and other countries of Asia.
Before the end of this year, he claimed that just a few million doses of vaccines will be usable, citing a lack of producers as one of the issues.
Cholera vaccinations are kept in an emergency stockpile by WHO.
In order to respond to both acute outbreaks and even less to be able to launch preventative vaccination campaigns that may be a method to lower the risk for many nations, he added, “it is very evident that we do not have enough vaccine.”
Due to variations in national monitoring systems, there was no global estimate of the number of cholera cases, he added.
