The first cholera outbreak was recorded in (1817–24), also known as the first Asiatic cholera pandemic, began near Calcutta and spread throughout Southeast Asia to the Middle East, eastern Africa and the Mediterranean coast. - www.wikipedia.org
It isn't that common anymore, but there's a need for us to know about this dreaded infection.
Cholera also known as Vibrio cholerae is a potentially fatal bacterial infection of the small intestine caused by consuming water or food that has been contaminated.
Symptoms may not occur in all that has been affected, but those who do will usually experience:
- Severe, watery diarrhea
- Feeling and being sick
- Stomach cramps
Symptom's generally develops within few days of infection, although they can sometimes occur after few hours.
Without treatment, the combination of diarrhea and vomiting can cause a person to quickly become dehydrated and go into shock (where there's a sudden massive drop in blood pressure). In the most severe cases, cholera can be fatal.
Causes Of Cholera
The bacteria causing cholera is know as Vibrio cholera, it is a bacterial infection
usually found in water or food that is contaminated by feces from a carrier.
Sources include:
- Vegetables washed or grown with water containing infected human wastes.
- Foods and drinks not properly processed sold by street vendors
- Local water supplies
- Fish and seafood caught in waters polluted with sewage that are under-cooked.
- Ice made from local water supplies.
When contaminated food or water is consumed by a person, the bacteria release a toxin in the intestines that produces severe diarrhea.
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| Contaminated Water. Photo by www.apimagesblog.com |
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| Girl Fetching Contaminated Water Photo by www.summitpost.org |
Protect yourself from cholera By
- Cook all your food well especially seafood. (Make sure all seafood like crabs, prawns, crayfish are cooked properly.)
- Use and Drink safe water. (Always make sure your water is boiled and filtered well, and get a good safe source of water, make sure your kitchen and utensils are cleaned with safe water.)
- Use a latrine or bury your feces, do not pollute a body of water by defecating into it.
- Wash hands with soap and safe water.(Make sure you wash your hands before you make food or eat, wash it with liquid soap after cleaning your child bottom or yours, also after using the latrine or toilet.)
- Clean up safely (Wash all things before you use them).
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| Clean and Safe Water Photo by : www.lovegreater.org
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Good one Dr.Dee!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Akan, Kindly Share..
DeleteKeep them coming Doc.like the fact you acknowledge sources too. Makes it scholarly
ReplyDeleteGiving us some medical brush up. Now the question :how fast does cholera kill
Thank you for the nice comment, it means a lot. Now to your question, there are several factors that will determine the course of the disease, lemme paint the worst case scenario. So this person swallows large quantity of the bacteria, has diabetics or even HIV (such as his immune system is already weak and cannot put up any kind of resistance). The organisms has a field day, causes torrential vomiting and diarrhea, severe dehydration sets in, the body goes into shock in a day, every organ begins to shut down, the blood vessels collapse, the kidney packs up, the brain retires. Well you see this fellow will be lucky to survive 3days; but of course the duration will vary with other individuals taking the above factors into consideration. That's why the mainstay of management of Cholera is fluid replacement. The fluid lost most be replaced as a matter of urgency, 'esp" if it's severe.
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