Posted on 10/20/2022 4:44:24 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Since October 6, Lebanon has recorded 169 cholera cases, almost half of them in the past two days, according to the health ministry.
Syrian refugees, health officials “have started to notice an increase in cases among the Lebanese”.
“Cases are no longer confined to camps bordering Syria, but they’ve since spread to poor areas where drinking water is widely polluted and at times, mixed with wastewater.”
Cholera is generally contracted from contaminated food or water, and causes diarrhoea and vomiting.
It can also spread in residential areas that lack proper sewage networks or drinking water from mains.
Abiad said that contaminated water was used for farming, spreading the disease on to fruit and vegetables.
Lebanon’s water infrastructure is also derelict and the healthcare system has been hit hard by a three-year financial crisis and the August 2020 Beirut port blast that destroyed critical medical infrastructure in the capital.
Despite humanitarian aid from donor countries, Abiad said the sector would struggle to cope with a large-scale outbreak.
The Euphrates River is believed to be the source of Syria’s first waterborne disease outbreak since 2009, but cholera has since spread nationwide, with thousands of suspected or confirmed cases reported.
According to the United Nations, nearly two-thirds of water treatment plants in Syria, half of pumping stations and one-third of water towers have been damaged.
Cholera can kill within hours if left untreated, according to the WHO, but many of those infected will have no or mild symptoms.
It can gernally be easily treated with oral rehydration solution, but more severe cases may require intravenous fluids and antibiotics, the WHO has said.
Worldwide, the disease affects between 1.3 million and four million people each year, killing between 21,000 and 143,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at aljazeera.com ...
I guess I’ll just poor out all of my Syrian bottled water...
I wonder if Boston University could make it stronger?...
Lebanese bottled water, too. Just to be safe.
How about an Ebola-Encephalitis hybrid?
As you can probably tell, I have zero clue about actual Virology.
Do masks help?
Was the Gates Foundation in the country with a new vaccine delivery system ?
Women and minorities hardest hit
A teaspoon of bleach in a gallon of water.
It’s terrible, though. Lebanon was a reasonably functional country at one point. Now they’re Ethiopia with better weather and Roman ruins.
Textbook how to turn a lovely place into a rubbish heap. Wonderful idea creating a three headed equal government.
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