Status: 05.10.2022 4:46 p.m
The WHO reports the first major cholera outbreak in Syria in more than ten years. Almost 600 cases of illness are known so far and 39 people have died. The cause is probably contaminated water from the Euphrates.
In Syria, the worst cholera outbreak in more than ten years has already killed 39 people. A total of 584 cases of the disease have been detected in 11 of the country’s 14 regions since the end of last month, the health ministry said.
The situation is developing in an “alarming manner” in the affected areas and the disease is spreading rapidly, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned. Most of the dead were counted in the northern Aleppo region. At first it was not clear whether the deaths were included in the total number of cases of the disease.
Problem: Drinking water from the Euphrates
The extremely contagious infection is usually transmitted through contaminated food or water and causes diarrhea and vomiting. The disease can spread in residential areas where there is no functioning sewer system and drinking water supply.
According to the UN, after years of war in Syria, almost two-thirds of the water treatment plants, half of the pumping stations and a third of the water towers are damaged. The trigger for the most recent cholera outbreak is probably the polluted water of the Euphrates, on which more than 18 million people in the country depend as a source of drinking water, according to the UN.
Infection can be fatal
Low water levels due to drought and Turkish-built dams have exacerbated the problem. The outbreak is all the more alarming because many Syrians live in refugee camps – under miserable hygienic conditions and without access to clean water.
According to the WHO, a cholera infection can be fatal within a few hours if left untreated. Patients need to be rehydrated quickly, either with an oral rehydration solution or, in more severe cases, with intravenous fluids and antibiotics.
Worldwide, between 1.3 and four million people contract cholera every year, and between 21,000 and 143,000 people die.