WHO Confirms At Least 3,300 Cases Of Cholera In Iraq, 14 Deaths To Date - LA Times

[hatrack]

BAGHDAD -- Majida Hamid Ibrahim seemed no different from any other victim in Iraq -- her body was put in a plastic bag and sent to the morgue for relatives to collect. But authorities were already bemoaning her death. Just days before, the 40-year-old woman from Baghdad's southern outskirts became the first confirmed cholera case in the Iraqi capital from an outbreak spreading around the country. The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 3,300 cholera cases in Iraq and at least 14 deaths from the acute and rapid dehydration it causes.

The troubles, however, also point beyond the immediate struggle to control the deadly advance. They highlight the creeping fractures throughout the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the country's deepening sectarian gulf and a gangland-style lawlessness in which even medical supplies are fair game for bandits.

The health minister, Ali al-Shemari, fled the country after U.S. forces raided offices in February and arrested his deputy, accused of diverting millions of dollars to the biggest Shiite militia and of allowing death squads' use of ambulances and hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings. The government official overseeing Iraqis living abroad was brought in as acting health minister in al-Maliki's shaky Cabinet -- which was further jolted by the walkout of six Sunni ministers in August.

Hospitals also are divided along Iraq's sectarian split, with Shiites and Sunnis often too scared to venture into any facility controlled by the other. For health workers, this leaves worrying gaps with cholera cases now reaching half of Iraq's 18 provinces.

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/ats-ap_health11oct05,1,5767557.story

[Bobbieo]

1. Two of the 4 Horsemen have arrived in Iraq - War - Pestilence!!!