Cholera

There have been reported cases of recent deaths as a result of Cholera outbreak in Lagos, Nigeria in the last few weeks. We offer insight into what to be done to avoid being a victim.

Cholera is a disease caused by bacteria that produce a watery diarrhea (loose frequent stooling) that can rapidly lead to dehydration and even death if untreated.

Causes

It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with the bacterium called Vibrio cholera.

Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, is usually found in food or water contaminated by feces from a person with the infection. 

Common sources include:

• Municipal water supplies
• Foods and drinks sold by street vendors
• Vegetables grown with water containing human wastes
• Raw or under-cooked fish and seafood caught in waters polluted with sewage

When a person consumes the contaminated food or water, the bacteria release a toxin in the intestines that produces severe diarrhea.

The disease is most common in places with poor sanitation, crowding, war, and famine.

It is not likely you will catch cholera just from casual contact with an infected person.

Symptoms

Cholera symptoms and signs include a rapid onset of copious, smelly diarrhea that resembles rice water and may lead to signs of dehydration (for example, vomiting, wrinkled skin/ loss of skin elasticity), low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, dry mucous membranes, including the inside of the mouth, throat, nose, and eyelids, thirst, and muscle cramps. Symptoms of cholera can begin as soon as a few hours or as long as five days after infection. Often symptoms are mild. But sometimes they are very serious.

Prevention

However, you can protect yourself and your family by using only water that has been boiled, water that has been chemically disinfected or bottled water. Be sure to use the bottled, boiled, or chemically disinfected water for the following purposes: Drinking, Preparing food or drinks, Making ice, Brushing your teeth, Washing your face and hands, Washing dishes and utensils that you use to eat or prepare food, Washing fruits and vegetables, To disinfect your own water, boil it for one minute or filter it and add two drops of bleach or one-half of an iodine tablet per liter of water. You should also avoid raw foods, including the following:

Unpeeled fruits and vegetables, unpasteurized milk and milk products, raw or undercooked meat or shellfish, fish caught in tropical reefs, which may be contaminated.

Treatment

Hydration is the mainstay of treatment for cholera through fluid and electrolyte replacement, both oral and IV. Antibiotics usually are used in severe infections in which dehydration has occurred. Cholera can be prevented with appropriate measures such as safe drinking water and non-contaminated foods; some protection can be obtained from oral vaccines while avoiding areas where cholera commonly occurs or has had a recent outbreak.

Although there is a vaccine against cholera, the CDC and World Health Organization don't normally recommend it because it may not protect up to half of the people who receive it and it lasts only a few months.

If you develop severe, watery diarrhea and vomiting -- particularly after eating raw shellfish or traveling to a country where cholera is epidemic -- seek medical help immediately. Cholera is highly treatable, but because dehydration can happen quickly, it's important to get cholera treatment right away.

 -Source (Internet)