Cholera has been a major public health challenge across the world since 1817. Vibrio cholerae is the bacterium that causes this severe diarrheal infection. The disease is transmitted through contamination of food or water. It affects nearly three million people globally and causes more than 95,000 deaths around the world. Though modern medicine has made cholera symptoms predictable and preventable, it needs timely and proper response for faster cure.
With government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) actively dealing with the spread of the pandemic, there has also been a rising threat of cholera turning out to be a major cause of worry. Read on to know about the spread, prevention, and ways of treating cholera in the face of the pandemic.
Is there a cholera outbreak in the world amidst COVID-19?
The world has been dealing with the spread of the pandemic since the beginning of 2020. Multiple waves of the pandemic have come and gone and taken several lives with it. In the scenario, there has been a rising threat of a cholera outbreak in the past few months in various parts of the world.
Since the start of 2022, a sudden rise in cholera symptoms has been noticed in Bangladesh and Pakistan, which makes it a severe health threat. In the typically cholera-endemic parts of Africa, this time is proving to be especially difficult. Number of cases of cholera has been increasing in countries like Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique, Malawi, and so on.
In fact, the cholera outbreak has started affecting regions that had been free from such outbreaks for quite some time. For instance, Somalia had its last major cholera outbreak in 2017 due to the flood in the Shabelle River. But heavy rains and the resultant blood in 2020 has increased the attack rate to 26 people per 100,000 by last year.
What makes the cholera outbreak more worrying this time?
A cholera outbreak in any part of the world at any given time is worrying. However, it is even more worrying in the face of the pandemic when the world is already trying to deal with a major health crisis.
The doctors and the scientists have their hands full taking care of patients and finding better vaccine formulations. The hospitals are already under pressure to focus on COVID-19 patients. In this situation, treating cholera patients will put an additional stress on the healthcare systems across the world. It is relevant in the light of the fact that several parts of countries like Ethiopia and Malawi already lack proper access to healthcare facilities.
In addition to that, with the healthcare system more focused on treating the pandemic, data related to cholera outbreaks is severely limited in many countries
Also, the spread of diseases like cholera has become even more likely in this current scenario. COVID-19 weakens the immune system and the body’s ability to fight off diseases and infections. Thus, the body is more susceptible to the attacks of diseases like cholera, Ebola, malaria, dengue, and measles. In fact, the recovering patients and those with an already weak immune system are more likely to get cholera symptoms.
The bottom line
The healthcare systems across the world have major challenges ahead as they will have to deal with other disease outbreaks, along with the pandemic. It is worth noting that treating cholera in time should be just as important for the healthcare system because of the highly infectious nature of the disease. The good news is that it is a curable disease – only if it is detected and treated in time. Here’s hoping that such detection and prevention is possible for all countries in the world.
