Iraq: Cholera outbreak west of Baghdad
A suspected cholera outbreak has killed four
people in the Abu Ghraib area, west of Baghdad, where vulnerable
displaced populations have been affected by the lack of clean water.
people in the Abu Ghraib area, west of Baghdad, where vulnerable
displaced populations have been affected by the lack of clean water.
A suspected cholera outbreak has killed four people west of
Baghdad, where vulnerable displaced populations have been affected by
the lack of clean water, health officials said.
The health
ministry strongly suspects the deaths, which occurred in the Abu Ghraib
area near Baghdad, were the result of a cholera outbreak first reported a
week earlier.
"Last week, we announced that there 12 cases of
cholera in Abu Ghraib and Najaf," health ministry spokesman Rifaq
al-Araji said, referring to the holy Shia city south of the capital.
"Since then, other cases have appeared in Abu Ghraib, and the reason is water that is not suitable for drinking," he said.
"Some
people are drinking directly from the (Euphrates) river and the wells.
The river water is polluted because the level is too low," Araji
explained.
"We now have four dead in Abu Ghraib in suspected
cholera cases," he said, adding that official laboratory results would
be known soon.
He said the minister had visited the hospital in
Abu Ghraib, and that more medical staff were dispatched to the area and a
crisis cell set up to deal with the outbreak.
This is the third cholera outbreak in Iraq in less than eight years [Getty]
