Cholera Epidemic Spreads to Iraq's South
Pastor Dale Morgan
Cholera Epidemic Spreads to Iraq's South*
By KATARINA KRATOVAC
The Associated Press
Friday, September 21, 2007; 5:14 PM
BAGHDAD -- Cholera was confirmed Friday in a baby in Basra, the farthest
south the outbreak has been detected. Officials expressed concern over a
shortage of chlorine needed to prevent the disease from spreading.
A shipment of 100,000 tons of the water purifier has been held up at the
Jordanian border over fears the chemical could be used in explosives.
Baghdad, which has doubled the amount of chlorine in the drinking water,
now has only a week's supply.
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World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva that
Iraq has registered 29,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea, with 1,500 of
those confirmed as cholera. All but two confirmed cases are in the north.
The bottle-fed, 7-month-old infant is the only confirmed case in Basra,
Iraq's second-largest and southernmost city, WHO reported.
On Thursday, WHO confirmed the first case in Baghdad since the U.S.-led
invasion in 2003, saying a 25-year-old woman turned up at a hospital
with a severe case of diarrhea that proved to be caused by cholera.
Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease typically spread by drinking
contaminated water. It can cause severe diarrhea that in extreme cases
can lead to fatal dehydration. It broke out in Iraq in mid-August, but
until this week had been limited to three northern provinces.
Naeema al-Gasseer, WHO's representative for Iraq, said there have been
10 deaths in the north, a number she said indicates the disease is not
getting out of hand.
"We are treating this as an outbreak, not an epidemic," al-Gasseer said.
"People are panicking because of the numbers. We are trying to focus
them away from the numbers. We tell everyone in Iraq: Wash your hands
with disinfectant, boil water at least five minutes, don't eat fruit and
vegetables that cannot be peeled and may have been washed with
contaminated water."
Cholera is endemic to Iraq, with about 30 cases registered each year.
The last epidemic was in 1999, when 20 cases were discovered in one day,
said Adel Muhsin, the Health Ministry's inspector-general.
The number of confirmed cases does not always indicate the scope of the
problem; many people who get cholera do not develop symptoms but can
pass on the disease.
The current outbreak has sharply increased Iraq's needs for chlorine.
But Muhsin and the WHO said 100,000 tons of the chemical were being held
at the border with Jordan, apparently due to fears that the chlorine
might fall into the hands of insurgents and be used in bombs.
Several chlorine truck bombings earlier this year killed scores of Iraqis.
The head of Baghdad's Water Department, Sadiq al-Shimmari, said the
capital had only a week's supply of chlorine. After the outbreak was
detected last month, officials doubled the daily amount of the chemical
being dumped into Baghdad's drinking water.
"Without chlorine, the water stations will shut down," al-Shimmari
warned. "God willing, we will not reach that point."
Diyala province north of Baghdad, the site of fierce fighting between
U.S. forces and militants, has reported scores of suspected cholera cases.
Hom Suhail al-Khishali, head of the provincial health department, said
none were confirmed. But he warned that the province's "bad security
situation ... is preventing medical teams from reaching the residents."
___
Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this story.