Cholera spreads due to the deteriorating living conditions (Joseph Eid / AFP)
On Wednesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced the registration of the first death from 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, as the sewage network and infrastructure collapsed, three years after the start of the unprecedented economic crisis.
“What combines these cases is that the majority of them are displaced Syrians,” Health Minister Firas Al-Abyad said on Tuesday.
Al-Abyad added, “What constitutes a fertile ground for the spread of the epidemic in Lebanon is the absence of basic services in places where refugees gather, including safe water or drainage.”
Syria recorded 41 deaths due to cholera and more than 700 injuries, according to what was reported on Tuesday by the Syrian regime news agency (SANA).
On the other hand, she warned United nations earlier this month that the outbreak was “evolving alarmingly”.
Lebanon hosts more than a million refugees who fled the Syrian war that broke out in 2011.
Most Syrian refugees live in poverty, and their living conditions have worsened due to Lebanon’s economic problems.
Cholera is generally transmitted from contaminated food or water and causes diarrhea and vomiting.
It can spread in residential areas that lack proper 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 do not develop symptoms or develop mild symptoms.
The disease can be easily treated with an oral rehydration solution, but more serious cases may require giving the patient intravenous fluids and antibiotics, according to the World Health Organization.
The disease affects between 1.3 million and four million people each year around the world, and leads to the death of between 21 thousand and 143 thousand people.
(AFP, The New Arab)