Cholera spreads due to deteriorating living conditions (Joseph Eid / AFP)
On Wednesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced the registration of the first death since cholera With the increase in the number of infections after the outbreak of the very dangerous disease in neighboring Syria.
Lebanon recorded 26 cases of cholera this month, due to the collapse of the sewer system and infrastructure, three years after the unprecedented economic crisis began.
“What unites these cases is that most of them are Syrian refugees,” Health Minister Firas Al-Abyad said Tuesday.
Al-Abyad added: “What constitutes a fertile ground for the spread of the epidemic in Lebanon is the absence of basic services in the places where refugees gather, including drinking water or drainage.”
Syria has recorded 41 deaths from cholera and more than 700 injured, the Syrian regime news agency (SANA) reported Tuesday.
On the other hand, he warned United Nations earlier this month the epidemic was “progressing alarmingly”.
Lebanon is home to more than one million refugees who fled the Syrian war that broke out in 2011.
Most Syrian refugees live in poverty and their living conditions have deteriorated due to Lebanon’s economic problems.
Cholera is usually transmitted by contaminated food or water and causes diarrhea and vomiting.
It can spread to residential areas without adequate sewage systems or drinking water.
Cholera can lead to death within hours if left untreated, according to the World Health Organization, but many infected people have mild or no symptoms.
The disease can be easily treated with an oral rehydration solution, but severe cases may require the patient to be given fluids and antibiotics intravenously, according to the World Health Organization.
The disease affects between 1.3 million and four million people worldwide each year and leads to deaths between 21,000 and 143,000 people.
(AFP, The New Arab)
