Cholera outbreak reaches Baghdad with report of first infection

Above: Canals are exposed to many forms of contamination in Iraq, where they may be used for watering animals, swimming, and drinking water. Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease caused by bacteria ingested in contaminated water or food. In its most severe forms, cholera is one of the most rapidly fatal illnesses known: A healthy person may become hypotensive within an hour of the onset of symptoms and may die within 2-3 hours if no treatment is provided. Death is by dehydration through massive diarrhea.

Iraqi health officials confirmed the first cases of cholera in Baghdad on Thursday, in a sign that an epidemic that has infected approximately 7,000 people in northern Iraq is spreading south through the country's decrepit and unsanitary water system.

The World Health Organization and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society said they had confirmed at least one case of cholera in Baghdad, though the Iraqi Ministry of Health did not confirm it. Hospital sources said there could be at least two other confirmed infections, connected to a death in Kut and one in Tikrit.

Officials said there was a further possible outbreak in Diyala, north of Baghdad, and in Kut, southeast of Baghdad. The World Health Organization has already reported an outbreak of the disease in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Sulaimaniya, and 10 people are known to have died. But the disease is now moving from the north into more unstable areas of the country where it could be even harder to treat and contain.

"It is already endemic in some parts of Iraq, but when it is growing and moving, that's when it becomes an epidemic," said Naeema al-Gasseer, the World Health Organization representative for Iraq. The organization said there was laboratory confirmation of the disease in a 25-year-old woman living in Baghdad.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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