Basra (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s southern province of Basra has recorded 17000 infection cases due to water contamination, its health official was quoted saying on Tuesday.

Riyad Abdul-Amir, head of the health department in Basra, told Almaaloma website that Basra hospitals have, so far, received more than 17000 cases of diarrhea abdominal distress due to water contamination.

Abdul-Amir warned of a “cholera outbreak as salinity rates continue to increase in the water unprocessed”.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi urged local authorities on Monday to address the water contamination issue and to ensure sufficient water deliveries from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Basra was one of several southern provinces which had seen wide-scale popular protests over poor public services last month, which developed into violent encounters with security forces. </s> Iraqi health officials say that a health crisis stemming from water pollution and a shortage of clean drinking water has worsened in recent days, as hospitals in the southern port city of Basra treat more than 1,000 cases of intestinal infections on a daily basis. The problem was exacerbated several months ago when Turkey cut back on water distributed to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

 

 A crowd of young men took to the streets on in the southern port city of Basra Tuesday, demanding the central government and Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi increase the quantity of clean drinking water allotted to their province. Abadi vowed to increase spending on infrastructure for the province during a visit to Basra in July.

A young man, whose friend was killed during a rally several weeks ago, broke down and sobbed over the protesters' inability to force Iraqi leaders to improve the condition of public services in Basra, especially the region's worn-out water infrastructure and insufficient quantities of drinking water allotted by the central government.

Some health officials in Basra warn that a cholera outbreak is possible due to water pollution and water-borne parasites that have made thousands of people sick in recent days. The director general of the Basra Health department, Riad Abdul Amir, told Al Hurra TV the situation continues to worsen.

He says more than 17,500 cases of intestinal ailments, resulting from contaminated drinking water, have been treated by Basra hospitals during the past two weeks, alone.

Abdul Amir says the problem stems from insufficient fresh water supplies coming into the city via canals and water pipes from the north.

"Salty water [which has infiltrated the water network]," he asserts, "is known to reduce the efficacy of chlorine used to treat and kill bacteria in drinking water," he said.

Safaa Kazem, a docotor who has been treating dozens of cases of intestinal problems and diarrhea in Basra's Sadr Teaching Hospital each day, says water from the city's supply is not safe to drink.

She says the degree of water sterilization is minimal and that Basra's water is very salty and has an extremely high level of microbes in it, along with a high degree of chemical pollution.

Basra Governor Assad al Edani told Al Hurra TV that his province has been suffering from numerous infrastructure problems for a long time.

He says the water network in Basra hasn't been updated in at least 30 years and the old pipes often break, mixing drinking water with sewage.

Edani says "not enough fresh water is arriving via the region's only canal from Thi Qar province to the north." He thinks a "strong current of fresh water will flush out salty water seeping into the water network from the sea."

Edani adds that the population of Basra has "more than doubled since the water network was last updated in the early 1990s."

Iraq's individual provinces have been fighting for water, amid a general shortage, since Turkey in early June severely curtailed the number of cubic meters of water it funnels into both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. </s> More than 3,000 cholera cases have been recorded in the states of Yobe and Borno, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

LAGOS, Nigeria – A cholera outbreak in north-eastern Nigeria has claimed nearly 100 lives over the past two weeks, the United Nations said on Saturday, September 22.

More than 3,000 cholera cases have been recorded in the states of Yobe and Borno in a region that is also grappling with a Boko Haram insurgency, it said.

"The cumulative number of recorded cases in both states currently stands at 3,126 including 97 deaths," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The outbreak was declared two weeks ago in restive Borno, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in camps.

Boko Haram has intensified attacks, especially against military targets in recent months.

On Wednesday, the UN reported that more than 500 people had died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in 4 years.

It said more than 6 million people could be affected by the outbreak without urgent action to control it.

Expected floods and heavy rains were "an ideal environment for the outbreak to spread", OCHA warned.

The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also having to deal with a jihadist insurgency.

OCHA said Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was the worst-hit with 24,000 cases overall, and said immediate action was needed to stem the disease.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhea, with children particularly at risk.

Water-borne diseases are a constant threat in the Lake Chad region because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season. – Rappler.com </s> UN: More than 200,000 suspected cholera cases in Yemen

BERLIN (AP) — The U.N. health agency says there are now more than 200,000 suspected cases of cholera in an outbreak in war-torn Yemen, many of them children.

UNICEF director Anthony Lake and World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said in a statement Saturday, "we are now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world," with an average of 5,000 new cases every day. The agencies say that more than 1,300 people have died — one quarter of them children — and the death toll is expected to rise.

The U.N. says collapsing health, water and sanitation systems have cut off 14.5 million people from regular access to clean water and sanitation, increasing the ability of the disease to spread.

In addition, an estimated 30,000 local health workers have not been paid for nearly 10 months. </s> The U.N. health agency says there are now more than 200,000 suspected cases of cholera in an outbreak in war-torn Yemen, many of them children. UNICEF director Anthony Lake and World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said in a statement Saturday, "we are now facing the worst cholera outbreak in the world," with an average of 5,000 new cases every day.

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LAGOS: A cholera outbreak in north-eastern Nigeria has claimed nearly 100 lives over the past two weeks, the United Nations said.

More than 3,000 cholera cases have been recorded in the states of Yobe and Borno in a region that is also grappling with a Boko Haram insurgency, it said.

“The cumulative number of recorded cases in both states currently stands at 3,126 including 97 deaths,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. The outbreak was declared two weeks ago in restive Borno, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in camps.

Boko Haram has intensified attacks, especially against military targets in recent months.

The UN reported that more than 500 people had died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in four years.

It said more than six million people could be affected by the outbreak without urgent action to control it. Expected floods and heavy rains were ‘an ideal environment for the outbreak to spread’, OCHA warned.

The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also having to deal with a jihadist insurgency.

OCHA said Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, was the worst-hit with 24,000 cases overall, and said immediate action was needed to stem the disease.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhoea, with children particularly at risk.

Water-borne diseases are a constant threat in the Lake Chad region because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season. — AFP </s> Yobe government on Friday confirmed 906 fresh cases of cholera with 61 deaths and 50 others still on admission in hospitals across the state.

Dr Muhammad Kawuwa, the Commissioner for Health, stated this in a statement in Damaturu on Friday.

He said Acute Water Diarrhea (AWD) cases were reported in some parts of the state and later confirmed to be cholera after laboratory tests.

“Some of the AWD cases were caused by Vibrio bacterae, the bacteria that cause cholera,“ the commissioner said.

According to him, 906 cases are recorded in six local government areas of the state: Gujba, Gulani, Damaturu, Fune, Potiskum and Nangere in two months.

“Over 795 patients were successfully treated and discharged, 50 are still on admission in various health facilities across the state.

“Unfortunately, we lost 61 patients mainly due to delays in timely reporting to the healthcare facilities for life saving treatment.”

Kawuwa said the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Abuja were authenticating the causes of the outbreak.

“In the light of this and due to our continued concern for the health of our people, the state government is therefore declaring outbreak of cholera in the state.”

He said this was necessary to scale up response with the support of the international partners,

The commissioner identified personal hygiene, absence of sanitation facilities in the communities and flooding of water sources by the rains as possible causes of the outbreak.

He called on Water, Sanitation and Health sector partners, religious and traditional leaders and the people to cooperate and support government efforts in containing the outbreak and check its spread.

Yobe government had, three months ago, declared an earlier cholera outbreak in five local government areas of the state.

The local government areas are: Bade, Karasuwa, Jakusko, Yusufari and Bursari. The cholera was declared over after 21 days without a report of any new case.

The commissioner said the initial outbreak recorded 16 deaths in 404 cases with Bade Local Government having 379 cases, Karasuwa 16, Jakusko, four, Yusufari three and Bursari, two.(NAN) </s> A cholera outbreak in north-eastern Nigeria has claimed nearly 100 lives over the past two weeks, the United Nations said Saturday.

More than 3,000 cholera cases have been recorded in the states of Yobe and Borno in a region that is also grappling with a Boko Haram insurgency, it said.

"The cumulative number of recorded cases in both states currently stands at 3,126 including 97 deaths," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The outbreak was declared two weeks ago in restive Borno, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in camps.

Boko Haram has intensified attacks, especially against military targets in recent months.

On Wednesday, the UN reported that more than 500 people had died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in four years.

It said more than six million people could be affected by the outbreak without urgent action to control it.

Expected floods and heavy rains were "an ideal environment for the outbreak to spread", OCHA warned.

The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also having to deal with a jihadist insurgency.

OCHA said Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was the worst-hit with 24,000 cases overall, and said immediate action was needed to stem the disease.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhoea, with children particularly at risk.

Water-borne diseases are a constant threat in the Lake Chad region because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season. </s> LAGOS, Nigeria – A cholera outbreak in north-eastern Nigeria has claimed nearly 100 lives over the past two weeks, the United Nations said on Saturday, September 22.

More than 3,000 cholera cases have been recorded in the states of Yobe and Borno in a region that is also grappling with a Boko Haram insurgency, it said.

"The cumulative number of recorded cases in both states currently stands at 3,126 including 97 deaths," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

The outbreak was declared two weeks ago in restive Borno, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people live in camps.

Boko Haram has intensified attacks, especially against military targets in recent months.

On Wednesday, the UN reported that more than 500 people had died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in 4 years.

It said more than 6 million people could be affected by the outbreak without urgent action to control it.

Expected floods and heavy rains were "an ideal environment for the outbreak to spread", OCHA warned.

The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also having to deal with a jihadist insurgency.

OCHA said Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was the worst-hit with 24,000 cases overall, and said immediate action was needed to stem the disease.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through contaminated food or drinking water. It causes acute diarrhea, with children particularly at risk.

Water-borne diseases are a constant threat in the Lake Chad region because of a lack of adequate sanitation as well as stagnant groundwater during the rainy season. – Rappler.com
Health officials state that the Iraqi city of Basra has recorded 17,000 infection cases due to water contamination. A cholera outbreak is feared as salinity rates continue to increase in the unprocessed water.