Published Date: 2008-09-04 14:00:33
Subject: PRO/EDR> Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (34)
Archive Number: 20080904.2765
CHOLERA, DIARRHEA & DYSENTERY UPDATE 2008 (34)
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A ProMED-mail post
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ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
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In this update:
Asia
[1] Cholera - Iran (Tehran, Qom)
[2] Cholera - Iraq
[3] Cholera - Iraq (Maysan)
Africa
[4] Cholera - Somalia
[5] Cholera - Kenya (Rift Valley)
[6] Cholera - Zimbabwe (Mashonaland East)
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[1] Cholera - Iran (Tehran, Qom)
Date: Wed 27 Aug 2008
Source: The National (UAE) [edited]
<http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080827/FOREIGN/273331481/1011>
Health officials have imposed emergency measures in Iran to contain
an outbreak of cholera, with bans in some cities on the sale of raw
salad greens and street food vendors as well as penalties for
businesses that do not heed the warnings.
Officials fear the disease, spread through contaminated water or
food, has been brought in from neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Hasan Emami Razavi, the deputy health minister, said on Tuesday [26
Aug 2008], 96 people, including 18 Pakistani and Afghan nationals,
have contracted the disease in the past month, and 4 people,
including an elderly man in Tehran, have died.
Fars News Agency, yesterday [26 Aug 2008], reported a 9-year-old
Afghan girl also died, possibly of cholera. The report has not been
confirmed by the health ministry.
In Qom [Qom province] and Karaj [Tehran province], the 2 cities worst
hit by the disease, health officials have banned the sale and supply
of salad and other greens as well as prepared dishes containing these
raw ingredients. Businesses ignoring the warnings face being shut
down. Qom, 183 km (114 mi) south of Tehran, is Iran's 2nd largest holy city.
Millions of Iranians and Shiites from other countries, including
Afghanistan and Pakistan, flock to the city every year to pay their
respects to the shrine of Lady Fatemeh Masoumeh, the daughter of the
7th Shiite Imam. The 1st cases of cholera were reported in Qom in August 2008.
Karaj, 35 km (22 mi) west of the capital, is Iran's 5th largest city
with a population of 1.3 million. After Tehran, it has the largest
number of Afghan immigrants and refugees.
Yesterday [26 Aug 2008], the health ministry said there was no threat
to Tehran from the cholera outbreak.
In 1998, an outbreak of cholera in Iraq that spread to Iran infected
10 000 and killed 100 people. Last September [2007], Iran's Haj and
Pilgrimage Organization suspended sending pilgrims to Iraq after 57
people who had visited the country or been in contact with others
returning from there were diagnosed with cholera.
[Byline: Maryam Sinaiee]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Iran showing the
affected areas in the north can be found at
<http://healthmap.org/promed?v=32.7,54.2,5>. - Mod.LL]
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[2] Cholera - Iraq
Date: Thu 28 Aug 2008
Source: redOrbit, United Press International (UPI) report [edited]
<http://www.redorbit.com/news/international/1536274/two_iraqi_deaths_blamed_on_cholera/>
Sources say 2 children have died in Iraq from what is suspected to be
cholera, which has been blamed for at least 28 other similar
infections. Medical sources in Baghdad said there are 30 suspected
cases of the potentially deadly bacterial infection in Iraq,
including a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old who are dead, the Kuwait News
Agency KUNA reported Thursday [28 Aug 2008].
The total of 29 suspected cases and one diagnosed case of cholera
come after a major outbreak of the disease hit Iraq in July 2007,
KUNA said. Sources told the news agency that contaminated water was
likely to blame for the disease's 2007 spread and for the deaths of
at least 9 other people before the outbreak was contained in October 2007.
--
Communicated by:
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[3] Cholera - Iraq (Maysan)
Date: Thu 28 Aug 2008
Source: China View, Xinhua News Agency report [edited]
<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/28/content_9729344.htm>
A 3-year-old child died of cholera in the Maysan province in southern
Iraq, raising fears of spreading the disease throughout the country,
a provincial medical source said on Thursday [28 Aug 2008].
"The child died on Wednesday in the town of al-Auzeir, 70 km (43.5
mi) south of the provincial capital of Amara, by cholera disease,"
Jamal al-Alawi, spokesman of Maysan health directorate told Xinhua.
He said that the child was among 23 similar cases in the province
that detected suffer from acute watery diarrhea. Alawi's announcement
raised fears among Iraqis that the disease could widely spread across
the country.
In 2007, cholera epidemic spread in 9 Iraqi provinces out of 18
across the country. According to World Health Organization (WHO),
more than 30 000 people had acute watery diarrhea, among which 3315
were identified as positive for _Vibrio cholera_.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The south of Iraq was virtually unaffected by the large cholera
outbreak in 2007, which involved the north. Maysan province is in
southeastern Iraq, bordering on Iran and can be found on a map at
<http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iraq.pdf>. - Mod.LL]
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[4] Cholera - Somalia (Hiran)
Date: Thu 4 Sep 2008
Source: AllAfrica, Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu) report [edited]
<http://allafrica.com/stories/200809040651.html>
An outbreak of acute watery diarrhea (AWD) in and around Hiran
region, central Somalia, has killed at least 7 children in the past 3
days, residents said on Thursday [4 Sep 2008]. The children have died
in Jalalaqsi, Buuqaqable, and Ceel cali areas in Hiran region.
The death toll in the villages due to the outbreak of diarrhea may
rise from this [number]. The children who died were among children
below 8 [years old].
Many villagers have been left helpless due to the outbreak of
diarrhea. The number of patients in critical condition is not ascertained.
[Byline: Abdinasir Guled]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Acute watery diarrhea is often used as a term for cholera. Hiran (or
Hiraan) is in south central Somalia and can be found on a map at
<http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/somalia.pdf>. - Mod.LL]
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[5] Cholera - Kenya (Rift Valley)
Date: Thu 4 Sep 2008
Source: Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), Kenya News Agency (KNA)
report [edited]
<http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=52280>
Following an outbreak of cholera in the area, 2 people have been
reported dead and another admitted at the Nandi hills district
hospital. Area medical officer of health (MOH), Dr Aouko Anyango,
speaking to KNA Thursday [4 Sep 2008] said that more than 70 eating
places plus 5 food markets have been closed indefinitely until all
hygienic standards are adhered to. The district public health officer
Ropishe Pulimo said that Chemase and Tainet divisions were the most affected.
Pulimo has advised the public to maintain high standards of hygiene
by boiling drinking water, washing hands after visiting toilets to
keep at bay the water borne disease.
[Byline: Brian Opundo]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[The Nandi hills area is located in the Rift Valley province in
western Kenya. The province can be seen on a map at
<http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/kenya.pdf>. - Mod.LL]
******
[6] Cholera - Zimbabwe (Mashonaland East)
Date: Thu 4 Sep 2008
Source: The Earth Times, Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) report [edited]
<http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/229724,two-dead-in-harare-cholera-outbreak.html>
Health officials said Thursday [4 Sep 2008], 2 people have died and
23 are in hospital following an outbreak of cholera in one of
Harare's crowded townships, The outbreak occurred on Monday [1 Sep
2008] in Chitungwiza, a dormitory township of about a million people
on Harare's southern outskirts where sewerage routinely flows through
the streets and people's yards.
Chitungwiza hospital chief executive Obadiah Moyo said the
institution had dealt with a total of 34 people with the disease, but
said "we have enough medication for all the cholera victims."
"Residents of this area have been getting their water from
unprotected wells because there is no proper water supply system,"
said Chitungwiza town clerk Godfrey Tanyanyiwa. "We suspect these
wells could have been contaminated by burst sewer pipes."
Residential areas nearly all over the Zimbabwean capital often suffer
broken sewerage pipes and open streams of raw sewerage are visible in
all poor townships. Zimbabwe has suffered several cholera outbreaks
in recent years following the collapse of infrastructure due to the
country's political and economic crisis.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[Harare and Chitungwiza are in Mashonaland East province and can be
found on a map at
<http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/zimbabwe.pdf>. - Mod.LL]
[The outbreaks discussed in this update can also be found on the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map at
<http://www.healthmap.org/promed>. - Mod.LL]
See Also
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (33) 20080825.2646Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (32) 20080811.2477
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (31) 20080730.2334
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (30) 20080702.2019
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (20) 20080404.1240
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (10) 20080212.0563
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2008 (01) 20080104.0047
2007
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Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (67) 20071231.4200
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (60) 20071126.3824
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (50) 20071023.3450
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (40) 20070924.3164
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (30) 20070830.2856
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (20) 20070511.1509
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (10) 20070302.0737
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2007 (01) 20070105.0047
2006
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Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2006 (52) 20061229.3646
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2006 (50) 20061215.3528
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2006 (40) 20061006.2862
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2006 (30) 20060724.2037
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2006 (20) 20060512.1352
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2006 (10) 20060303.0675
Cholera, diarrhea & dysentery update 2006 (01) 20060106.0040
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