Have you had a sip of water today? Or did you have a salad at Sunday brunch just yesterday?
Not to get all paranoid, but think for a second…how much attention do you pay to where your food comes from? Let’s talk about Cholera.
Not many urbane people have to worry about a decent source of drinking water. As such it’s almost very easy to forget that diseases such as cholera, which can be gotten from contaminated water, exist. However, Cholera does exist and recently in certain parts of Nigeria, there has been an outbreak of the disease.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera. It is a water-borne bacterial infection that affects the intestinal tract and is characterized by vomiting, watery stool, dehydration and fatigue.
Symptoms
The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can be severe. Approximately 1 in 10 people who get sick with cholera will develop severe symptoms such as watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.
Treatment
When there is a cholera outbreak, patients can be simply and successfully treated by immediate replacement of the fluid and salts lost through diarrhea. Patients can be treated with oral rehydration solution (ORS), a prepackaged mixture of sugar and salts that is mixed with 1 liter of water and drunk in large amounts. This solution is used throughout the world to treat diarrhea. Severe cases also require intravenous fluid replacement. With prompt appropriate rehydration, fewer than 1% of cholera patients die.
Prevention
- Wash hands with soap and clean water at all times (especially before handling food and after visiting restrooms).
- Only drink treated water from a clean and covered container.
- Properly wash and clean fruits and vegetables (using salt or vinegar)
- Prepare food in a clean environment with clean water.
- Eat at places that have evident sanitation features (sink and hand wash/sanitizer)
- Avoid open-air eating places
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