Today, Thursday, Lebanon revealed that it had discovered its first case of cholera since 1993.
The case was filed on October 5 in the remote Akkar governorate in the nation’s north. The cholera sufferer is receiving treatment, and the National News Agency reports that his status is stable.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health, for its part, announced the formation of a crisis cell with experts and professionals to address the cholera outbreak and monitor daily developments.
The cholera case reported in Akkar, Lebanon’s poorest region, is most likely the outcome of an epidemic in a Syrian border region, according to Firas Al-Abyad, the country’s health minister.
Residential areas with poor sewage systems or limited access to drinking water frequently have cholera outbreaks. It frequently results in vomiting and diarrhoea and is brought on by ingesting contaminated food or water.
The World Health Organization has warned of a “worrying” worsening of the situation, and the World Health Organization’s confirmation of the first infection in Lebanon comes as at least 39 people have died as a result of cholera, which has been spreading in Syria since last month.
Last Tuesday, the Syrian Ministry of Health said that a total of 594 confirmed infections had been recorded cumulatively throughout the country’s 14 governorates, with Aleppo Governorate having the highest number (north).
The ministry reported 39 fatalities, 34 of which occurred in Aleppo, and stated that the “most of the deaths are due to persons delaying seeking early medical assistance or chronic disease sufferers.”
“It was unclear whether injuries and fatalities in locations not under government control were included in the data provided by the ministry.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, spoke to media in Geneva on Wednesday and stated the following: “Over 10,000 probable cholera cases have been reported in Syria over the past six weeks.
The World Health Organization issued a warning on Tuesday, stating that “infections are moving to new locations” and that the situation “is worryingly worsening in the governorates” where the disease has spread.
In Lebanon, cholera has not been reported in nearly three decades.
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