QAMISHLI, Syria — Three people have died of cholera in northern and eastern Syria, the
region’s
Kurdish administration said Saturday, appealing for international help
to contain the outbreak.
اضافة اعلان
Health
authorities warned of “a large number of cholera cases in Raqqa province and
the western countryside of Deir Ezzor province”.
Cholera is
generally contracted from contaminated food or water and causes diarrhea and
vomiting. It can spread in residential areas that lack proper sewage networks
or mains drinking water.
The Kurdish
administration called on international agencies, “especially the
World Health Organization, to provide necessary support to limit the spread of cholera”.
The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said the disease had spread in western parts of
Deir Ezzor after local authorities stopped distributing chlorine to water
pumping stations.
The Britain-based
group, which has a wide network of sources in Syria, said that hundreds of
people in the area were complaining of vomiting, diarrhea, and headaches.
More than a
decade of civil war has devastated Syria’s water supply and sewerage
infrastructure.
Nationwide, the
war has damaged two thirds of water treatment plants, half of pumping stations
and one third of water towers, UNICEF said.
Nearly half the
population relies on alternative and often unsafe sources of water while at
least 70 percent of sewage goes untreated,
UNICEF said.
An outbreak of
cholera hit neighboring Iraq this summer for the first time since 2015.
Worldwide, the
disease affects between 1.3 million and 4 million people each year, killing
between 21,000 and 143,000 people.
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