Number of Cholera Cases in Iraq Rise to 1,809, Epidemic Spreads to Kurdish Region

Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe diarrhea that drains the body of its water. The number of cholera cases in Iraq has risen to 1,809 as the epidemic spread to the northern autonomous Kurdish region, said a health ministry statement.

Ministry spokesman Rifaq al-Araji said, "The governorates of Baghdad and Babil, south of the capital, were the worst affected with more than 500 cases each."

The cholera outbreak has killed six people so far, including four in the Abu Ghraib region at the very beginning of the outbreak, before health authorities had set up a response plan.

Khalis Khadhr, spokesman for the regional ministry, said, "Two of the cases were people displaced from the most affected parts of central Iraq. The Kurdish-run governorates of Dohuk and Arbil host hundreds of thousands of people displaced by conflict from other parts of Iraq."

Health authorities have blamed the cholera outbreak mostly on the poor quality of water caused by the low level of the Euphrates.

Source: AFP