Cholera

Cholera is a particularly dangerous infectious disease caused by cholera vibrions. It occurs when the pathogen enters the body with infected food or water.

Chronicle

2024: Cholera incidence is on the rise worldwide. Card

In June 2024, over 40 thousand people around the world fell ill with cholera, and at least 160 of them died. The increase in the number of infections is due, among other things, to the continuing problems with access to clean water in a number of regions. This is stated in the materials of the World Health Organization (WHO), published in mid-July 2024.

According to WHO, not only the number of cholera cases has increased, but also the scale of outbreaks in individual countries - Afghanistan, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, the Syrian Arab Republic. In June 2024, the highest incidence was noted in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which accounted for 32,467 new cases. In Afghanistan, almost 18.7 thousand cases were registered, in Yemen - more than 6.6 thousand, in Pakistan - more than 5.2 thousand. In general, from January 1 to June 30, 2024, 249,793 people fell ill with cholera worldwide, of which 2,137 died.

It is said that on a global scale, the fight against cholera is hampered by increased demand for means of countering the disease. Beginning in October 2022, the International Coordination Group (ICG), which manages emergency vaccine supplies, temporarily suspended the standard two-dose vaccination scheme as part of cholera outbreak response campaigns, moving instead to a single-dose scheme. WHO described the increase in cholera as a "third-class emergency," which corresponds to the highest level of complexity.

The head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova emphasizes that the increase in the incidence of cholera and the expansion of its geographical prevalence has been recorded in the world since 2021. In 2023, more than 900 thousand cases were registered, but the real number of cases may be more.^[1]

2022

For 10.5 months of 2023 - from January 1 to November 15 - more than 610 thousand cases of cholera were registered in the world, which is significantly more than in previous years. For the entire 2022 and for the full 2021, 472,697 and 223,370 cases of cholera were detected on a global scale, respectively. Such data of the World Health Organization (WHO) led in December 2023.

It is clarified that from January 1 to November 15, 2023, cases of cholera infection were registered in 29 states, of which 16 are in Africa. And the number of deaths from this disease has reached 3,500.

Map showing countries where most cholera cases were recorded from January 1 to November 15, 2023, WHO data

The WHO expresses concern, in particular, about the increase since mid-September 2023 in the incidence in Zimbabwe. Most cases with suspected cholera were recorded in Afghanistan (almost 204 thousand).

The disease has also spread in Syria (more than 161 thousand cases), Haiti (more than 71 thousand), Malawi (over 59 thousand), [Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)|Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (more than 43 thousand), Mozambique (over 36 thousand) and Ethiopia (more than 27 thousand).

Given the large number of outbreaks and their geographical spread, as well as the lack of vaccines and other resources, WHO continues to assess the risk at the global level as very high, the World Health Organization said in a statement.

In August 2023, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Education Gennady Onishchenko said that the spread of cholera is impossible in Russia. According to Onishchenko, cholera can only be contracted through food or water, but drinking water in Russia is of guaranteed quality.^[2]

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