If cholera makes you too ill to eat, dangerously low levels of blood sugar can occur, causing seizures, loss of consciousness, and death. Children are at increased risk for this complication. Finally, shock caused by cholera can lead to kidney failure, in which the kidneys lose their filtering ability, allowing excess fluids, some electrolytes, and wastes to build up in the body.
This is a potentially life-threatening condition. The WHO estimates that between 1. But cholera is likely to be endemic in certain countries in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean region, southeast Asia, and the western Pacific, according to the WHO.
Most cases of dehydration are mild and resolved by drinking lots of fluids water or sports drinks. Severe dehydration, though, may require intravenous fluids administered by a health professional.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC In addition to covering all the basics of cholera, the CDC provides the latest statistics and data on the disease, insight into their own efforts to investigate and combat outbreaks, and helpful information for travelers.
Mayo Clinic A highly trusted source for Everyday Health editors, the Mayo Clinic offers clear, straightforward info on cholera and its potential complications and what to do if you believe you've been exposed to it. Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking. February 1, General Information: Cholera.
August 5, World Health Organization. January 17, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. May 12, Fanous M, King KC. June 6, National Organization of Rare Disorders. May Komiazyk M, Palczewska M, et al. June 20, Travelers' Diarrhea. October 8, April 15, Health care providers should look for signs of dehydration when examining a patient with profuse watery diarrhea. These include:. People with severe cholera can develop severe dehydration, which can lead to kidney failure.
If left untreated , severe dehydration can lead to shock, coma, and death within hours. The profuse diarrhea produced by cholera patients contains large amounts of the infectious Vibrio cholerae germ that can infect others if swallowed. This can happen when the bacteria get on food or into water. To prevent the bacteria from spreading, all feces human waste from sick persons should be thrown away carefully to ensure it does not contaminate anything nearby.
Diarrheal stools, massively contaminated by V. The incubation period, from a few hours to 5 days, and the healthy carriers, enable the transport of V. The main factors that encourage cholera transmission are socio-economic status and living conditions of populations. Densely concentrated populations in areas with poor hygiene facilitate the emergence and development of cholera outbreaks.
Colony of the pathogenic cholera bacterium, Vibrio cholerae, possessing blue areas, indicating the successful artificial fusion of the two chromosomes to result in a single chromosome strain. Scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, in collaboration with several international institutions, recently published a landmark study in the journal Science. They traced the history of cholera outbreaks in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean over the past 60 years.
Their research revealed that the cholera bacterium had been introduced at least 11 times into Africa over a period of 44 years, always from Asia, and that human populations were the main vectors for disease dispersal throughout Africa. These findings show that cholera was not only introduced into Africa in before subsequently taking up residence there, but is repeatedly introduced on a regular basis. Starting from two prime zones of introduction in West Africa and East Africa, epidemics spread along preferential routes to persistence zones such as the Lake Chad basin or the Great Lakes region.
The areas of Africa most susceptible to the introduction of cholera will have to be targeted more specifically in order to stem the cholera waves before they sweep the rest of the continent," point out the researchers. This research was based on a unique collection of cholera vibrio strains, formed by the Institut Pasteur and kept there for nearly 50 years the Institut Pasteur has long-standing expertise in cholera research — see below in "The Vibrios and Cholera CNR at the Institut Pasteur" , as well the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute's the genome collection — enabling the scientists to cover not just Africa but also other world regions.
In a second study, the team focused on Latin America, where epidemic cholera reemerged in alongside sporadic cases of low-level disease. This revealed that the risk of large-scale outbreaks varies depending on the V. The massive epidemics seen in Peru in the s and Haiti in were caused by the Asian pandemic strain, whereas the sporadic cases in Latin America arose from local strains.
All of these studies demonstrate the added value of whole-genome sequencing of V. Our research illustrates the benefits of combining epidemiological and laboratory data during investigations of epidemics, and lends weight to the message recently issued by the WHO's Global Task Force on Cholera Control [see below] to public health practitioners, which recommends systematically combining these two approaches to improve epidemic management.
Urgent action is needed to protect communities, prevent transmission and control outbreaks. Find out more. Read the press release. Genomic analysis of more than 1, strains of Vibrio cholerae by scientists from the Institut Pasteur and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, in collaboration with several international institutions, revealed for the first time the link between the different outbreaks of cholera since Their findings were published in the journal Science on November 10, The world is currently witnessing its seventh cholera pandemic.
The first six pandemics killed millions of people after the infection spread from its original reservoir in the Ganges delta in the 19th century. The bacterium can be found in:. Everyone is susceptible to cholera, with the exception of infants who get immunity from nursing mothers who have previously had cholera. Still, certain factors can make you more vulnerable to the disease or more likely to have severe signs and symptoms. Cholera can quickly become fatal. In the most severe cases, the rapid loss of large amounts of fluids and electrolytes can lead to death within hours.
In less extreme situations, people who don't receive treatment can die of dehydration and shock hours to days after cholera symptoms first appear. Although shock and severe dehydration are the worst complications of cholera, other problems can occur, such as:. Cholera is rare in the United States with the few cases related to travel outside the U. If you're traveling to areas known to have cholera, your risk of contracting the disease is extremely low if you follow these precautions:.
Drink only safe water, including bottled water or water you've boiled or disinfected yourself. Use bottled water even to brush your teeth.
Hot beverages are generally safe, as are canned or bottled drinks, but wipe the outside before you open them. Don't add ice to your drinks unless you made it yourself using safe water.
For adults traveling from the United States to areas affected by cholera, a vaccine called Vaxchora is available in the United States. It is a liquid dose taken by mouth at least 10 days before travel. A few other countries offer oral vaccines as well.
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