Cholera Spreads To Iraq's Southernmost City

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

Baghdad — Cholera was confirmed Friday in a baby in Basra, the farthest south the outbreak has been detected. Officials expressed concern over a shortage of chlorine needed to prevent the disease from spreading.

A shipment of 100,000 tons of the water purifier has been held up at the Jordanian border over fears the chemical could be used in explosives. Baghdad, which has doubled the amount of chlorine in the drinking water, now has only a week's supply.

World Health Organization spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva that Iraq has registered 29,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea, with 1,500 of those confirmed as cholera. All but two confirmed cases are in the north.

The bottle-fed, seven-month-old infant is the only confirmed case in Basra, Iraq's second-largest and southernmost city, WHO reported.

On Thursday, WHO confirmed the first case in Baghdad since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, saying a 25-year-old woman turned up at a hospital with a severe case of diarrhea that proved to be caused by cholera.



Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070921.wiraq_cholera0921/BNStory/International/home

[Amonester]

1. Iraqi cholera outbreak spreads to Baghdad - The Independent

Iraqi cholera outbreak spreads to Baghdad
By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad
Published: 22 September 2007

...

The disease was first reported in the northern Kurdish areas of the country and specialist teams were dispatched in an effort to keep the situation contained. The revelation that cholera has now spread to the Iraqi capital, with its vast population of internally displaced refugees and crumbling water and sewage system offering scope for further proliferation, is a matter of great worry, say health officials.

Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the WHO, said: "The first case of cholera confirmed in Baghdad was two days ago. A 25-year-old woman had contracted the disease. For the time being we have only one case. It is likely others will be identified. The most important thing for Baghdad, even if it is difficult, is to strengthen the disease surveillance system, to be able to identify all the suspected cases and to know what we need in terms of oral rehydration salts, intravenous fluids and antibiotics so we can be ready when we see more cases."

Dr Ali Jassem Mohammed, an Iraqi public health specialist, said: "There are now about six million people living in Baghdad. Many have fled the city and the country because of the violence, but others have come in for surrounding areas. Many of them have very poor standard of living and of hygiene, so we are facing a highly risky situation."

...

A report by Oxfam and the NGO Co-Ordination Committee In Iraq (NCCI) warned recently that 70 per cent of Iraq's population did not have adequate water supplies and only 20 per cent had access to effective sanitation.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2987809.ece


Hold war criminals who repeatedly broke, break, and will break many laws everywhere to steal OIL?

This is THEIR FAULT.

[DRoseDARs]

2. While I understand the fear of truck bombings, which is worse: Dozens dead or thousands? nt

[Jacobin]

3. but but, we can't LEAVE. we have to stay there and help FIX IT

:eyes:

Get. The. Fuck. OUt. NOW

[eridani]

4. How do you think a million extra deaths occurred during the sanctions period?

People were able to (just barely) get enough food, but medications and water purification chemicals were all embargoed as "dual use", with so-called potential applications in bio or chem warfare.

This after the US deliberately blew up water treatment plants and 95% of the power plants in the first Gulf War.

[Flabbergasted]

5. kick