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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Health Crisis - Focus on Cholera and Anthrax - Index of articles
Cholera
guidelines
Oxfam GB - Zimbabwe
November 21, 2008
Summary
- Cholera is
extremely contagious.
- Be obsessed
about washing your hands with soap and drinking clean water.
- Be aware
of the symptoms - extremely watery, white diarrhoea.
- Curing cholera
is very simple: REHYDRATION using Oral rehydration solution, sugar
and salt solution immediately.
- Failure to
observe the rule of rehydration immediately can result in severe
dehydration and death.
Causes
Cholera is
caused by a bacteria. Not a virus. The bacterium is called Vibrio
cholerae.
The main routes
of faecal-oral transmission are through:
- Not washing
your hands with soap after the toilet or touching an infected
person,
- consuming
contaminated water,
- and eating
contaminated food that is not cooked properly.
Symptoms
- Once infected,
a person can develop the symptoms within hours (but usually 2-3
days). The symptoms are extremely watery diarrhoea that is white
in colour, like the colour of water from cooking rice.
- However,
80% of people who are infected with the bacteria either do not
show any symptoms at all or only get mild normal diarrhoea.
- Cholera diarrhoea
is painless. There are no cramps or other pain like other types
of diarrhoea.
- Cholera does
not cause blood in the faeces.
- There is
no fever associated with cholera.
- Vomiting
is common.
- Severe cholera
can cause you to lose massive volumes of fluids (severe dehydration)
in hours, which means that if rehydration does not take place
quick enough, severe illness and death can occur. It is possible
to lose from 10 to 20 litres per day. All of that must be replaced
of course. Such severe dehydration will require medical rehydration
using intravenous rehydration.
If you think
you have the symptoms, go to your nearest health centre. Immediately.
Even if it is 4 o'clock in the morning.
Cholera does
not cause death. Severe dehydration causes death.
Response
There is no
reason at all that anyone should die of cholera, as it is a very
easy disease to cure.
Simply it requires
consumption of lots of ORS/Sugar and Salt Solution.
Once you think
you have the symptoms mentioned above you should begin to consume
a lot of ORS/Sugar and Salt Solution.
Sugar and Salt
Solution is made as follows 6 teaspoons of sugar, and half a teaspoon
of salt in a 750ml container.
Go to your nearest
health facility.
Prevention
- Be obsessed
about washing your hands. After BABY (defecating), after shaking
hands with people, after visits to the hospital or Cholera Treatment
Centers, etc. This sounds obvious, but surprisingly we become
very lazy at this.
- Contaminated
water is a major cause of getting cholera. Treatment of water
is effective with chlorine or boiling for a minimum of one minute.
If you're not sure its clean...DON'T DRINK IT.
- For the duration
of the outbreak do not consume market food that is uncooked or
not cooked properly. This includes foods that have water sprinkled
on them. Fruits that can be peeled such as bananas, oranges, etc
are fine but remember to wash your hands with soap before peeling
them.
- Like most
diarrhoeal bacterias, you can carry the bacteria for up to several
weeks after being infected without being affected. It is important
to always be careful
- Aquatabs
can be used to disinfect water.
When
using aquatabs:
Put one tablet
into 20-25 litres of water and cover the container. Wait for 30
minutes for the tablet to dissolve before drinking the water Never
swallow the tablet- it must dissolve in 20-25 litres of water
Note: Aquatabs are not for treating diarrhoea. They only disinfect
water.
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