BEIRUT —
Lebanon warned Wednesday a cholera outbreak that has left five dead is
“spreading rapidly” in the cash-strapped country, with cases rising after the
extremely virulent disease spread from neighboring Syria.
اضافة اعلان
Lebanon’s first
cholera outbreak in decades began earlier this month as it struggles amid poor
sanitation and crumbling infrastructure after three years of unprecedented
economic crisis.
“The epidemic is
spreading rapidly in Lebanon,” Health Minister Firass Abiad told reporters.
Since October 6,
Lebanon has recorded 169 cholera cases — almost half of them in the past two
days — as well as five deaths, according to the health ministry.
It comes just weeks
after an outbreak in Syria, where more than a decade of war has damaged nearly
two-thirds of water treatment plants, half of pumping stations and one-third of
water towers, according to the UN.
Abiad said that
while the “vast majority” of cases were
Syrian refugees, health officials “have
started to notice an increase in cases among the Lebanese”.
Lebanon hosts more
than one million Syrian refugees, many of them already poverty-stricken before
Lebanon’s economic collapse began.
Cholera is
generally contracted from contaminated food or water, and causes diarrhea and
vomiting.
It can also spread
in residential areas that lack proper sewerage networks or mains drinking
water.
Abiad said that
contaminated water was used for farming, spreading the disease on fruit and
vegetables.
Frequent and
prolonged power cuts across Lebanon have interrupted the work of water pumping
stations and sewerage networks.
The source of
Syria’s first major cholera outbreak since 2009 is believed to be the Euphrates
River, which has been contaminated by sewage.
Cholera can kill
within hours if left untreated, according to the
World Health Organization, but
many of those infected will have no or mild symptoms.
It can be easily
treated with oral rehydration solution, but more severe cases may require
intravenous fluids and antibiotics, the WHO says.
Worldwide, the
disease affects between 1.3 million and 4 million people each year, killing
between 21,000 and 143,000 people.
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