Cholera

Total deaths from contagious diseases rose 86% to 12,598 from 6,767 in 2019

According to the WHO Regional Office, cholera cases had more than doubled in Mozambique over the past week from 1,023 to 2,374 as of March 20, reports Xinhua news agency

"The flash appeal aims to help the people who are most at risk and hardest hit by the outbreak, through health, water and sanitation, nutrition, education and protection services"

Available data points to cases of infection in around 30 countries, whereas in the previous five years, fewer than 20 countries reported infections, on average

One dose of vaccine has proven effective in stopping outbreaks, even though evidence on the exact duration of protection is 'limited'.

Haiti's government on Sunday announced that at least eight people have died from cholera, raising concerns about another potentially catastrophic epidemic like the one that broke out a decade ago and killed nearly 10,000 people. The cases-the first cholera deaths reported in three years-came in a community called Dekayet in southern Port-au-Prince and in the seaside slum of Cite de Soleil, where thousands of people live in cramped, unsanitary conditions. "Cholera is something that can spread very, very quickly," warned Laure Adrien, director general of Haiti's health ministry. Food or water contaminated with the cholera bacteria can lead to severe diarrhoea and dehydration that can be deadly. The deaths come as a lack of fuel and ongoing protests shut down the availability of basic services across Haiti, including medical care and clean water, which is key to helping fight cholera and keep patients alive. Haiti's most powerful gang continues to control the entrance to a main fuel

A total of 26 cholera cases have been confirmed in Syria, and a UN official expressed "serious concern about the outbreak of the disease"

Seven people have died of cholera and about 100 others have been affected by the water-borne disease in Kashipur block in Odisha's Rayagada district, an official said on Tuesday. This was revealed by Rayagada District Collector Swadha Dev Singh based on a report of the ICMR's Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar. Though initially, we were suspecting it to be diarrhoea, later it came to the fore that people might have been infected to cholera also. They collapsed because they could not get the proper medical attention at the due time, Singh told PTI over phone. She said now the administration is focusing on early identification of cases based on the symptoms so that they can be provided medical attention immediately. Official sources said that three out of the nine samples of rectal swabs of patients in the district were found to have presence of the Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The Vibrio cholerae bacteria were found in the faeces of three patients from Dudukabahal ..

In Sievierodonetsk, the small city that has become the focus of Russia's advance in eastern Ukraine and one of the bloodiest flashpoints in a war

Clinical trials of WHO pre-qualified vaccine to start soon; Unicef price is $2 per dose, private market price globally is $8-10; Initial volumes to be imported; India would need 83 mn doses a year

The costs of providing free vaccines are way lower than the costs of a freewheeling epidemic

Hillchol was designed at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and subsequently developed by Hilleman Labs

Cholera transmission is closely linked to inadequate access to clean water