WHO expects 300,000 cholera cases in Yemen within six months
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it is expecting as many as 300,000 cases of cholera in Yemen within six months and an “extremely high” number of deaths.
“We need to expect something that could go up to 200,000-250,000 cases over the next six months, in addition to the 50,000 cases that have already occurred,” Nevio Zagaria, WHO Yemen representative, told reporters in Geneva by phone.
The epidemic began in October 2016 and grew until December. It dwindled but was never fully under control, Zagaria said, and new cases had arisen with the rainy season, worsened by the collapse of the economy and the health system.
The outbreak has caused 23,425 cases in 18 of Yemen’s 23 governorates since April 27, and 242 people have died, he said.
That misleadingly suggested a case fatality rate of about 1%, with the true rate more likely 4-5%, he said, adding that the latest data had taken health experts by surprise.
“The speed of the resurgence of the cholera epidemic is unprecedented (for Yemen).”
Caused by the ingestion of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium from fecally contaminated water or food, cholera’s sudden onset of acute watery diarrhea can kill within hours, although three-quarters of infected people show no symptoms.
The short incubation period means outbreaks can spread with explosive speed, especially in places without safe water and proper sanitation, according to the WHO.
Yemen has been ruined by two years of civil war, with 18.8 million people needing humanitarian aid, many of them on the brink of famine, and less than 45% of health facilities fully functional.
Sufferers were overwhelming Yemen’s remaining hospitals, but it would be better to treat them in specialized centers, 50 of which are already operating, along with 300 oral rehydration points. But such numbers were too few, and the WHO will release an emergency response plan in the next 48 hours, Zagaria said.
“We have a target of 350 cholera treatment centers and 2,000 oral rehydration points, and we are covering around 10-12% of this target at the moment.”
But the epidemic could not be addressed without ensuring that healthworkers were paid, he said, after seven months of no public sector salary payments because of a central bank crisis.
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