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WHO says cause of Iraqi Kurdistan cholera
outbreak unclear
4.9.2007
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September 4, 2007
GENEVA ,-- The World Health Organization said
on Tuesday thousands of people had fallen ill with
cholera in Kurdistan (northern Iraq), but the cause
of the outbreak had not been identified.
"The source of infection is very unclear so far,"
said Claire Lise Chaignat, head of the United
Nations agency's global task force on cholera
control.
She said the northern Iraqi province of Sulaimaniyah
had recorded a "three- to four-fold increase" in
acute watery diarrhea -- cholera's main symptom --
between August 23 and September 2. There have been
2,930 cholera cases and 9 related deaths in
Sulaimaniyah over that 11-day period, she said.
Nearby Kirkuk first detected cholera on August 19
and has since had 1 death and 2,968 cases of acute
watery diarrhea, Chaignat said. She cautioned it was
not yet possible to say whether all those cases were
cholera.
Health officials in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan
region said last week that a Sulaimaniyah water
treatment plant had tested positive for the
bacterium that caused cholera, and that its filters
would be cleaned. Polluted well water was also cited
as a possible infection source.
In Kirkuk, cracked water pipes allowing
contamination by sewage were blamed for the
outbreak.
According to the WHO Web site, sudden large
outbreaks of cholera are usually caused by a
contaminated water supply. The diarrhea disease,
which also causes severe vomiting, is rarely
transmitted by direct person-to-person contact.
Chaignat said it appeared that the number of cases
in Sulaimaniyah may have been decreasing over the
past week, but stressed it was possible that cholera
would continue to spread.
She said health workers in the region "so far" have
had the resources they need to confront the
outbreak. Most cholera cases are treated with oral
dehydration salts, though some patients require
intra-venous fluids or antibiotics.
Reuters
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