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	va1-sg19016.securesites.net

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Asia

[1] & [2] Cholera - Iraq (northern)

[3] Cholera - India (Orissa)

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[1] Cholera - Iraq (northern)





An outbreak of cholera in the northern province of Sulaimaniyah 

appears not to been caused by contaminated water and is unlikely to 

spread to Baghdad, the USA military said Sun 2 Sep 2007.



There have been 70 confirmed cases of the disease and more than 4000 

reports of people suffering from symptoms like severe diarrhea and 

vomiting, said Col. Glynda Lucas, chief of the military's clinical 

operations in Iraq. "This appears to be an outbreak, it is not an 

epidemic," Lucas said in a statement. "It is typical for these areas 

in Iraq to have cholera at this time of year."



Sherko Abdullah, the head of the regional health ministry department 

in Sulaimaniyah, said that a 9th person had died from the disease on 

Fri 31 Aug 2007.  The Iraqi government has taken steps to contain the 

disease and prevent it from spreading to other areas, she said.



--



*****

[2] Cholera - Iraq (northern)





An outbreak of cholera in northern Iraq that has killed 9 people was 

caused by inadequate water infrastructure, said a UN official Mon 3 

Sep 2007 who has been working with the Iraqi government to 

investigate the disease.  The findings seemed to contradict those 

announced by the USA military on Sun 2 Sep 2007 that the outbreak was 

not caused by contaminated water.



"The root cause of the outbreak lies in the inadequacy of the water 

supply system and deteriorated infrastructure," said Paolo Lembo, the 

Iraq country director for the UN Development Program. Lembo recently 

returned to Jordan from Iraq and warned of the spread of the 

gastrointestinal disease, which is typically linked to contaminated 

water and can cause severe diarrhea and lead to death.



"Apparently the epidemic is expanding beyond its origin and spreading 

to other cities within Sulaimaniyah province and exhibiting a wider 

geographical coverage," Lembo said in a written statement. The UNDP 

and the World Health Organization are developing a strategy to 

address contaminated water in the area, the statement added.



On Sun 2 Sep 2007 Col. Glynda Lucas, chief of the military's clinical 

operations in Iraq, said the cholera outbreak in the northern 

Sulaimaniyah province appeared not to have been caused by 

contaminated water and was unlikely to spread to Baghdad.



"It is typical for these areas in Iraq to have cholera at this time 

of year," said Lucas, adding that there have been 70 confirmed cases 

of the disease and more than 4000 reports of people suffering from 

symptoms like severe diarrhea and vomiting.



Meanwhile, Jordanian health officials said Mon 3 Sep 2007 that they 

would take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of the disease 

into the kingdom from neighboring Iraq. Health ministry official Adel 

al-Balbissi told The Associated Press that travelers from northern 

Iraq would be given preventive medicine against cholera and would 

undergo medical checkups if they exhibited any symptoms of the disease.



--



[It is not easy to accept as truth the statement of Col. Lucas who 

does not appear to understand the basic principles of epidemiology. 

The CDC defines an epidemic as "the occurrence of cases of an illness 

in a community or region which is in excess of the number of cases 

normally expected for that disease in that area at that time"

is typical for these areas in Iraq to have cholera at this time of 

year" is irrelevent.



Likewise, Lucas appears not to be schooled on the transmission of _V. 

cholerae_. Cholera is classically a waterborne infection which 

becomes prominent in areas where the infrastructure for the supply of 

safe water is not present or has been destroyed by war or neglect or 

both. Whether the epidemic will spread 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) 

establish itself there is dependent on the status of the water 

infrastructure there. - Mod.LL]



*****

[3] Cholera - India (Orissa)





With the authorities failing to control the cholera epidemic, the 

official death toll in 4 tribal-dominated districts of Orissa 

increased to 178 on Sun 2 Sep 2007. The number of deaths was likely 

to rise as the waterborne disease was spreading to more and more 

villages. Unconfirmed reports put the death toll over 350.



According to reports received from the worst-hit blocks of Kashipur 

in Rayagada district and Dasmantpur in Koraput district, almost all 

the health centers and dispensaries in the area continued to receive 

patients suffering from cholera.



Although the state government was making efforts to send doctors on 

special duty to the affected region, lack of road communication to 

hundreds of villages was hampering the operation.



The deaths due to diarrhea and cholera started in Kashipur and 

Dasmantpur in early July 2007.



--



[The location of this quite large and growing Indian outbreak of 



- Mod.LL]



2006

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