SHARES
Floods often result in epidemics in the part of the country/town where affected. There are several diseases that can raise its ugly head up after a calamity strikes, let us discuss about one of the most common disease, Cholera, which can spread in the wake of a situation with a challenging sanitation condition.
Cholera is a transmissible disease that results in severe watery diarrhea, leading to dehydration and sometimes even death if left untreated. Modern sewage and water treatment have almost eliminated the disease in industrialized countries. But it can occur when calamities such as floods strike.
This disease is most common in places with poor sanitation, crowding, war, and famine. Common locations include parts of Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
How is Cholera Caused?
Primarily, it is caused when one eats food or drinks water that has been contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. Cholera is a bacterial disease that is usually spread through contaminated/unclean water.
Cholera results in severe diarrhea and thus, dehydration. If left untreated, cholera can lead to fatality in a matter of few hours, even in previously healthy people.
Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, is usually found in food or water contaminated by feces from a person with the infection, similar to Typhoid. Common sources that can be infected include:
- Ice made from municipal water
- Municipal water supplies
- Vegetables that have been grown with water contaminated with human waste
- Foods and drinks sold by street vendors
- Undercooked or raw seafood/ fish caught in waters polluted with sewage
When a person consumes the contaminated food or water, the bacteria release a toxin into the intestines that causes severe diarrhea.
It is not likely that one can catch cholera just by casual contact with an infected person.
What are the symptoms of Cholera?
Cholera symptoms can begin immediately within a few hours or can be seen as long as five days after infection. Usually, symptoms are mild. But at times they can become very serious. About one in 20 people who are infected are seen to have severe watery diarrhea along with vomiting, which can lead to dehydration very quickly. Although, a lot many infected people could have minimal or no symptoms, they can still contribute to spread of the infection.
Symptoms of cholera infection may include:
- Diarrhea – Diarrhea due to cholera often has a milky and pale appearance that resembles water in which rice has been rinsed (referred to as rice-water stool).
- Nausea and vomiting – Occurs often in the early stages of cholera, vomiting could persist for hours at a time.
- Dehydration –Dehydration can develop within a few hours after the onset of cholera symptoms. Depending on how much body fluid has been lost, the extent of dehydration can range from mild to severe. An indication of severe dehydration is loss of 10 percent or more of total body weight.
Dehydration could lead to a rapid loss of minerals in the blood (electrolytes) which maintain the balance of fluids in the body. This is called electrolyte imbalance.
Signs and symptoms of cholera in children
In general, children with cholera display the same signs and symptoms as adults, but they can be susceptible to low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) due to fluid loss, which can cause:
- An altered state of consciousness
- Coma
- Seizures
Signs and symptoms of dehydration include:
- Rapid heart rate
- Loss of skin elasticity irritability
- Lethargy
- Sunken eyes
- Dry mucous membranes, including the insides of the throat, eyelids, nose and mouth
- Extreme Thirst
- Low blood pressure
- Muscle cramps
If left untreated, dehydration can lead to shock and death in a matter of hours.
Most people exposed to the cholera bacterium (Vibrio cholerae) often don’t fall ill and never know they have been infected. Yet, because they are still infectious, they shed cholera bacteria in their stool for 7-14 days; they can infect others through contaminated water. Most symptomatic cases of cholera cause mild to moderate diarrhea that is often hard to distinguish from diarrhea that is caused by other problems.
How can Cholera be treated?
Cholera requires immediate treatment because the disease can cause death within hours.
- Rehydration –The main aim is to replace the lost electrolytes/fluids using a simple rehydration solution, oral rehydration salts (ORS). The ORS solution is available as a powder that is reconstituted in boiled water to be on the safer side. Without rehydration, about half the people suffering from cholera die. With treatment, the number of fatalities drops to less than 1 percent.
- Intravenous fluids –This becomes necessary only in case of severe dehydration
- Antibiotics –May be used to reduce both the duration and amount of cholera-related diarrhea
- Zinc supplements – Some research indicates that zinc may decrease and shorten the duration of diarrhea in children with cholera.
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by Hridya Anand
A biochemist by education who could never put what she studied to good use, finally found GetDoc as a medium to do what she loved - bring information to people using a forum that is dedicated to all things medical. View all articles by Hridya Anand.
