Today, Wednesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced the registration of the first death cholera in the country With the number of infections on the rise following the outbreak of the highly dangerous disease in neighboring Syria.
The National News Agency cited a ministry report that eight new cases of cholera have been registered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 26 in northern regions since the disease was discovered in Lebanon on the 5th of this month. .
Earlier, the environment minister of the Lebanese interim government, Nasser Yassin, confirmed that he had worked out a roadmap to fight the cholera epidemic in collaboration with international organizations.
Yassin said in a press release after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Najib Mikati at Beirut’s Grand Serail to discuss ways to fight the cholera epidemic with international organizations, that “the organizations will support all places that supply water to the camps. of the displaced Syrians to ensure their cleanliness and will support all sewer stations and pumping water with diesel. ” Especially in the IDP camps in Baalbek, Akkar, Central Bekaa and West Bekaa, as well as putting chlorine in all the water and pumping stations. “
The minister explained that the Ministry of Energy will be asked to build a service line for all sewers and pumping stations to make them work permanently, as well as launch awareness campaigns in all places where overcrowding occurs. .
Outbreak in “alarming evolution”
For its part, the Lebanese Ministry of Health has confirmed that it is taking all measures relating to the examination of water and sewage channels, the taking of samples and the preparation of hospitals.
The meeting also addressed the need to care for prisons and vaccinate all inmates, as well as paying attention to crowded popular places known as slums.
Syria has recorded 41 deaths from cholera and more than 700 injured, the official news agency (SANA) reported Tuesday.
For its part, the United Nations warned earlier this month that the outbreak of the disease “is developing 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.
