BHANINE, Lebanon — Middle-east is facing severe spread of Cholera for last few months. Shadia Ahmed panicked when rainwater flooded her shack one night, drowning her seven children. The next morning, the children were afflicted with vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms. Lebanon alone reports over 2,000 cases, 18 deaths since last month, as bacterial infection sweeps region
After the aid group tested for cholera at Ahmed’s camp for Syrian refugees in the northern Lebanese town of Bhanine, her youngest, four-year-old Assil, tested positive.
Cholera has swept through Lebanon, Syria and Iraq as the countries struggle with devastated infrastructure, unrest and housing for large populations of people displaced by the conflict. Lebanon reported its first case of cholera in nearly 30 years last month.
The bacterial infection has spread globally in dozens of countries this year, with outbreaks in Haiti and the Horn of Africa, as well as the Middle East. An outbreak of hundreds of thousands of cases driven by conflict, poverty and climate change is a major obstacle to global efforts to eradicate the disease.
“Cholera thrives in poverty and conflict, but is now overwhelmed by climate change,” said Inas Hamam, regional spokeswoman for the World Health Organization. “Regional and global health security is at risk.”
Cholera efforts focus on vaccination, clean water and sanitation. Last month, the WHO announced a temporary suspension of the two-dose vaccine strategy as production was unable to meet rising demand. Officials are now giving individual doses so that more people can benefit from the vaccine in a short period of time.
Cholera infection is caused by consuming food or water infected with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. While most cases are mild to moderate, cholera can cause death if not treated properly.
“I would take her to the bathroom all night, give her medicine, wash her and sterilize her,” Ahmed, 33, said of Asil, his child who contracted cholera. “I couldn’t sleep and I was up all night just looking at her. I feared the worst.”