Cholera
What is Cholera?
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. It causes painless, watery diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given.Vomiting also occurs in most patients. Most persons infected with V. cholerae do not become ill, although the bacterium is present in their faeces for 7-14 days. When illness does occur, more than 90% cases are of moderate severity. Less than 10% of ill persons develop typical cholera with signs of moderate or severe dehydration. Cholera is spread by contaminated water and food. These bacteria are normally ingested by drinking water contaminated by improper sanitation or by eating improperly cooked fish; especially shellfish or any foods washed in contaminated water.
The resulting diarrhea allows the bacterium to spread to other people under unsanitary conditions. Sudden large outbreaks are usually caused by a contaminated water supply. Only rarely is cholera transmitted by direct person-to-person contact. It is mainly a disease of young children, although breastfeeding infants are rarely affected.
Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting along with thirst, muscle cramps, weakness, sunken eyes and wrinkled skin. Although cholera can be life-threatening, it is easily prevented and treated. Simple sanitation is usually sufficient to stop an epidemic.
Cholera Symptoms
The time between catching cholera and getting the symptoms of diarrhoea - known as the incubation period - can be anything between a few hours and five days. Most people get symptoms after two to five days. If you have cholera, you may have symptoms including:- watery faeces with bits of mucus - this is sometimes called 'rice water' faeces since it looks like water in which rice has been washed
- faeces with a mild fishy smell
- vomiting
- tummy cramps
- dehydration
- fever, but this is rare and usually only in children
