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Hospitals in Iraqi Kurdistan struggle to
contain cholera outbreak
30.8.2007
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August
30, 2007
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region (Iraq), --
Doctors in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah have
asked for more help to cope with the rapidly
increasing number of cholera cases.
"We need urgent medical support as the disease is
spreading. We didn't expect an outbreak in this
area," said Dr Dirar Iyad of Sulaimaniyah General
Hospital.
"There is a shortage of medicines to control the
disease and the focal point [source of the disease]
hasn't been identified yet… Five deaths have so far
been reported here and in Kirkuk, and we believe
more could occur over the next couple of days as
victims are already in an advanced stage of the
illness," he said.
According Dr Juan Abdallah, a senior official in
Kurdistan's health ministry, over 2,300 cases of
cholera have been reported in the area, including
Kirkuk over a four-week period.
"The disease spread very fast. It is the first
outbreak of its kind in the past few decades," said
Abdallah.
According to a report on Al-Jazeera TV on 30 August,
which quoted "official sources" at Kurdistan's
health ministry, eight people - seven in
Sulaimaniyah and one in Kirkuk - had died of
cholera, and a state of emergency had been declared
in all hospitals in the cities of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The report went on to say there were over 35 cholera
cases in Sulaimaniyah and 47 in Kirkuk. A further
350 people had acute diarrhoea and were suspected of
having contracted the disease.
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by
ingestion of food or water contaminated with the
bacterium vibrio cholerae.
It has a short incubation period and produces an
enterotoxin that causes copious, painless, watery
diarrhoea that can quickly lead to severe
dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly
given.
Causes
"The bad sanitation in Iraq, especially in the
outskirts of cities where IDPs [internally displaced
persons] are camped, has put people at serious
risk," Abdallah said, adding: "In Sulaimaniyah and
Kirkuk at least 42 percent of the population don't
have access to clean water and proper sewage
systems."
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the outbreak
has due to serious problems with water quality and
sewage treatment. It quoted local reports which said
that only 30 per cent of the population in
Sulaimaniyah had an adequate water supply. "Mains
water is only available for two hours per day at
most in the city. A water quality report on
Sulaimaniyah in July showed that only 50 per cent of
the city's water was chlorinated," said UNICEF,
adding that many had been reduced to digging shallow
wells outside their homes.
UNICEF response
UNICEF, in coordination with the World Health
Organization (WHO), which is leading the UN
response, has delivered 4,000 cannulae and needles
and 15,000 sachets of oral rehydration salts (ORS).
ORS is critical to prevent death from dehydration
caused by severe diarrhoea. UNICEF said 4,000 safe
water kits were being delivered on 30 August to
families in the Sulaimaniyah area, where significant
numbers of IDPs are also at risk.
"Cholera is an easily treatable disease and the
prompt administration of ORS to replace lost fluids
nearly always results in a cure, but without proper
assistance and with so many IDPs living in
deteriorated conditions in Iraq, the situation might
get worse," Iyad said.
According to a press release issued by UNICEF on 29
August, the local authorities said that over 2,000
people had been affected and about 500 hospitalised
in the previous two days with severe diarrhoea.
UNICEF said 47 cases had been confirmed as epidemic
cholera, and this number was expected to grow.
UNICEF is appealing to families in the affected
areas to ensure that children, in particular, are
kept away from areas contaminated with raw sewage,
that they always wash their hands with soap, and
only drink water that has been purified or boiled.
"My two children, husband and mother have been
affected by cholera because we weren't able to get
purified water and one of my children is very sick
in hospital," Um Abir, a 34-year-old resident of
Kirkuk said.
"We have been displaced since January 2007 and we
have to camp near a rubbish pit which, according to
the doctor, might be the reason for all the family
being affected," she added.
irinnews org
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