Cholera, which has killed 789 and infected 100,000 in war-ravaged Yemen since the end of April, is a water-borne disease which goes hand in hand with poverty.
Here are the worst outbreaks around the world in the past ten years:
– Haiti: most virulent outbreak –
The most virulent outbreak in modern times was in Haiti, where more than 9,500 people have died and more than 800,000 been infected since the epidemic broke out in October 2010.
The disease was introduced by infected Nepalese UN peacekeepers who were sent there after the devastating 2010 earthquake.
The disease was introduced by infected Nepalese UN peacekeepers who were sent there after the devastating 2010 earthquake.
200,000 cases were registered in the impoverished Caribbean country in 2013.
– DRCongo: an endemic problem-
According to the United Nations cholera has become a major public health problem in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Thousands of cases are recorded every year in many provinces of the vast central African country, which lacks basic infrastructure and where most of the population lives in poverty.
Cholera is endemic in DR Congo, but usually only affects the east of the country. However, in 2016, when 700 people died, the infection spread west along the Congo river and reached Kinshasa for the first time in five years.
Infections peaked in 2013 at 14,000 cases.
– Scourge across Africa –
– Somalia: From January-April, 2017, 533 deaths out of 25,000 people infected by cholera and severe diarrhoea were recorded in the east African country, which is ravaged by drought and threatened with famine.
– Central and East Africa: In 2011 a wave of cholera swept for several months across the region, mainly in Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad where more than 85,000 cases were recorded, with 2,466 deaths.
– Zimbabwe: From August 2008 to June 2009 an epidemic which ravaged the southern African nation during a major economic crisis infected more than 98,000 people and killed almost 4,300.
– Angola: In 2006 at least 68,585 people were infected in the worst cholera epidemic ever recorded in the southwestern African state. More than 2,750 people died across its 18 provinces. Since then, the disease has re-emerged in the impoverished country, which has poor systems of drinking water and hygiene and limited access to health care.
Source: vanguardngr.com
