Cholera outbreak kills two in Iraq

Two people have died in a cholera outbreak in an Iraqi province south of Baghdad, indicating that water quality and sanitation remain poor in a country that has endured years of war, health officials said today.

Officials in Babil province reported at least 90 cases of cholera since the waterborne disease hit the area this month, but the Health Ministry in Baghdad said only 20 cases had been confirmed and that test results were pending on 15 more possible cases.

The World Health Organisation said the bacterium that causes cholera had been confirmed in 21 cases in Babil and that there were dozens more suspected cases.

“The re-emergence of cholera this year is not unexpected,” the Geneva-based agency said in a statement. It cited an outbreak of cholera a year ago in Iraq, mainly in the north, that killed 24 people.

A second person died from the disease in the Babil outbreak, after the death of an elderly man earlier in the week, said Adil Muhsin, inspector general with the Health Ministry in Baghdad.

Seventy new cases of cholera were registered in several towns, said a police official. In Musayyib town, 20 additional cholera infection cases were registered, said Hassan Tofan, a provincial official.

The Babil police official said orders were issued to arrest municipality directors in Kifil, Talyia and Khomisah for failing to make efforts to prevent the disease. He said 18 trucks with water purification materials were on their way to Hillah, the provincial capital that was the scene of heavy insurgent activity until security began improving in Iraq last year.

Neighbouring Jordan said it will ban entry of uncanned food from Iraq for two months due to the spread of cholera in Iraq, the official Petra news agency reported. Meanwhile, Iran’s Health Ministry warned Iranians about the spread of cholera around Iran’s border with Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The United Nations said it is supporting Iraqi efforts to fight the disease by providing affected communities with water tankers and water purification tablets.

Iraq lacks facilities to supply clean drinking water, especially in the countryside. Cholera, a gastrointestinal disease, is typically spread by drinking contaminated water. It can cause severe diarrhoea that, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration. It is preventable by treating drinking water with chlorine and improving hygiene conditions.