Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

IRAQ: Health Ministry confirms cholera cases
03 Sep 2008 10:22:27 GMT
 Source: IRIN

Background

•  Iraq in turmoil

MORE >>
BAGHDAD, 3 September 2008 (IRIN) - At least five cholera cases have been confirmed in Baghdad and the southern province of Maysan, due to soaring temperatures and rundown water plants, the Health Ministry said on 2 September.

"Four cases have been confirmed in Baghdad and the fifth one has been confirmed in Maysan province. Of those, three are children younger than 10 years and the others are adults," Ihssan Jaafar, general director of the Health Ministry's general health directorate, told IRIN.

"Only one death has been registered among these cases so far and that was a three-year-old boy in Maysan, while the rest of the cases are still under treatment," Jaafar added.

Maysan is about 350km south of Baghdad.

Jaafar blamed the drinking water, which is often contaminated by sewage due to rundown sewage systems and water treatment plants, forcing poor residents to rely on rivers or stagnant water.

"All these cases have been registered in areas where network pipes are either ageing or do not exist. The disease [cholera] is typically spread by contaminated water and high temperatures and there is a higher risk when rivers are stagnant and wells low," he told IRIN.

The new cases have spread panic among residents in southern Iraq, prompting local health officials to issue a warning.

"We warned all the residents to go to any nearby hospital or medical centre when they have diarrhoea and also we urged those in the affected areas to take water tablets from these centres," said Zaml Shia'a, the general director of Maysan health directorate.

"Tests on drinking water in some areas proved that the water is contaminated and can't be used by human beings, especially in the suburbs where the death occurred," Shia'a told IRIN.

The last cholera outbreak was detected on 14 August 2007 in the northern city of Kirkuk. It then spread to Sulaimaniyah, Arbil, Dohuk, Tikrit, Mosul, Diyala, Basra, Wasit, Baghdad and Anbar provinces. Hardest-hit were Kirkuk with 2,309 cases and Sulaimaniyah with 870.

At least 14 deaths were reported, according to Health Ministry figures.

By October 2007, the Iraqi government and UN agencies said the outbreak was under control as more than 70 percent of the country's nearly 4,200 laboratory-confirmed cases were successfully treated.

Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease typically spread by contaminated water and can cause severe diarrhoea which, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration. It can be prevented by treating drinking water with chlorine and by improving hygiene conditions.

sm/ar/mw

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Water

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Iraq in turmoil

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  MAG's CWMD global update - July 2008
MAG - UK

•  India: HELP starts aid for flood victims
HELP - Germany

•  Floods in Bihar state in India
DanChurchAid - Denmark

•  Red Alert; People of Myanmar still struggle in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis
Red Cross - Ireland

•  Smiles are shining as you bring life-giving water to children in Malawi
Red Cross - Ireland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  IRAQ: Health Ministry confirms cholera cases

•  Bangkok strikes fall flat, but protests drag on

•  US forces kill 6 Iraqi security personnel -police

•  Inept response to floods outrages India

•  RPT-FEATURE-Destruction of Kenya forest is national emergency

MORE >>

IRIN news

Background information

Briefings
Iraq in turmoil - [Who works where]

Topics
Water
Statistics graphs
Landmine casualties (2004)
Chart for Landmine casualties
View more stats >>

Related articles

Breaking stories
 IRAQ: Health Ministry confirms cholera cases (1 minute ago)

Bangkok strikes fall flat, but protests drag on (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 How can aid agencies tackle corruption? (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 MAG's CWMD global update - July 2008 (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 HAVE YOUR SAY: How can we make aid work safer? (1 minute ago)

Maps
 Flood Waters in Bihar State, India - as of 31 August 2008 (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-02T231749Z_01_CD02_RTRIDSP_2_STORM-GUSTAV_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/CD02.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-02T112745Z_01_COL03_RTRIDSP_2_SRILANKA-VIOLENCE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/COL03.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-02T011310Z_01_DHA002_RTRIDSP_2_ENVIRONMENT-CARBON_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DHA002.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-02T010829Z_01_DEL58_RTRIDSP_2_ENVIRONMENT-CARBON_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DEL58.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-01T192041Z_01_RNC110_RTRIDSP_2_USA-POLITICS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/RNC110.htm

Workers unload boxes with water at the airport in Nueva Gerona on the Isle of Youth September 2, 2008. Television reports showed widespread devastation on the island, which has about 86,000 ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Wed Sep 3 10:23:49 2008