Cholera

From ArticleWorld

Cholera occurs because of the bacteria present in water contaminated by incorrect sanitation, or in improperly cooked fish, especially shellfish.

Cholera was historically endemic in India, and was spread by trade routes to Russia, Western Europe and North America. It caused several pandemics in the 19th and 20th centuries, but it is no longer an issue in most countries, due to water filtering being introduced.

Transmission

Cholera is transmitted through feces contaminated with the bacterium. The contamination normally appears when sewage water is released into the waterways, affecting the drinking water, fish and food washed in the water. In normal conditions it doesn't spread from person to person, but this is possible in poor sanitary conditions.

Symptoms

Common symptoms include severe diarrhea (water-loss can be over 1 litre per hour), abdominal cramps, fever and vomiting. The severe diarrhea leads to acute dehydration, causing thirst, muscle cramps and weakness. Sunken ayes and wrinkled skin appears in later stages, along with metabolic acidosis, anuria and cyanosis. If not treated immediately, the dehydration can cause death through circulatory volume shock in just a few hours.

Prevention and treatment

Cholera can be prevented by respecting a number of sanitary rules. Prevention itself is quite simple, so major outbreaks in developed countries are very uncommon.

There are several ways to stop the disease from transmitting through drinking water, including:

• Treatment of sewage before it is released into the waterways.

• Isolating cholera-contaminated water sources and posting warning signs around them.

• Water treatment, by filtering and chlorination before use.

• Proper disposal of cholera victims, away from phreatic waters.

The treatment involves strong re-hydration and antibiotic treatment. The immune system can generally fight back the infection and antibiotic treatment is not vital, but it does shorten the time needed to heal the disease. Re-hydration is vital though. In fact, if the body is properly hydrated, less than 1% of the patients die, even without antibiotic treatment.