*Steep rise in cholera cases in northern Iraq*

01 Oct 2007 14:44:27 GMT
Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, Oct 1 (Reuters) - More than 500 new cases of cholera have been
confirmed since Thursday in Iraq's northern province of Kirkuk, bringing
the total number across the country to more than 3,000, the health
ministry said on Monday.

Fifteen people have died from the disease, but the relatively low death
toll indicated the outbreak was under control despite the steep rise in
the number of confirmed cases, a ministry spokeswoman said.

"We are discovering the disease at an early stage," she said.

Kirkuk province, with 2,197 cases and two deaths, has been the epicentre
of the outbreak. In neighbouring Sulaimaniya, 11 people have died and
771 cases have been recorded. In Arbil province there have been 113
cases, she said.

The spokeswoman blamed the outbreak on poor water supplies in Kirkuk.
"They have been depending on wells and water brought in by tankers," she
said. "Now the government is distributing pills to sterilise the water".

The disease was first detected in northern Iraq in August and a handful
of cases have since been confirmed in the south. Last Wednesday the
ministry said a woman in Baghdad had died of cholera, the first fatality
outside the north of the country.

Cholera is characterised in its most severe form by a sudden onset of
acute watery diarrhoea that can cause death by severe dehydration and
kidney failure within hours.

The virulent disease is mainly transmitted through contaminated water
and food.