According to the World Health Organization, the incidence of cholera is being systematically under-reported by countries afraid of losing trade and income from tourism. It estimates that the disease is infecting millions of people a year, 10 times more than the number of cases reported.

Many people fail to report that they are suffering from cholera because of the stigma attached to it. 'People see it as a dirty disease, says Claire-Lise Chaignat, cholera coordinator at the World Health Organisation, in the WHO Bulletin [1]. 'They think it's normal to have diarrhoea.' Cholera is spread mostly through contaminated food and water

In 2007, there were 178,000 reported cases of cholera, with 4,031 deaths. Chaignat believes, however, that the actual death toll could have been as high as 120,000.

The disease is spreading fast in Zimbabwe, while Angola, Sudan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Liberia, South Africa and Madagascar have all had large outbreaks in the past decade. Other hotspots include Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and much of Africa.

[1] Cumberland, S. (2009). An old enemy returns. Bulletin of the World Health Organization : vol. 87, no. 2. Download.

Related news:

• Cholera: research findings shed new light on epidemic behaviour, Source South Asia, 02 Sep 2008;
• Nepal: celebration of successful cholera mitigation programme, Source South Asia, 22 Jan 2009.

Source: Laura MacInnis, Reuters, 02 Feb 2009

Tags: emergencies, water quality, water-related diseases