Conditions in refugee camps in Somalia remains extremely worrying, after suffering a measles outbreak, the spread of the Cholera Outbreak takes place now. As reported by The New York Times, a cholera epidemic swept through Somalia.
Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease, caused by intestinal infection due to exposure to Vibrio cholerae bacterium. These infections are usually mild or without symptoms, but also sometimes severe.
Approximately 1 in 20 people develop severe illness with symptoms of watery diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps in the legs. Cholera Outbreak sufferers who have lost body fluids can quickly lead to dehydration and shock. If not treated, death can occur within hours. WHO data reported that there were 181 people died of cholera cases in hospitals in Mogadishu and there are several other confirmed Cholera Outbreak have occurred throughout Somalia.
“During the interaction of many people in crowded places and using contaminated water, we will see an increase in cases,” said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman for WHO. During the cause of cholera is still there, will continue transmission of the disease. Condition of the starving Somali refugees also cause a low body resistance and susceptible of contracting various diseases.
The complexity of problems in the camps, among others, the limitations of countermeasures that can be done by the Somali transitional government, which controls only a little capital and were already out of control at that time because many of the country’s power passed into the hands of Islamic militant groups.
UN and private aid groups struggled to respond to all needs of the refugee camps. Although some progress has been made in recent weeks, the Shabab is still in a condition which is too limited. More than 100,000 people have recently fled from the famine and settled in makeshift camps in Mogadishu.Mogadishu has been accommodating so many refugees, so that the area eventually became home to a measles, Cholera Outbreak and other diseases.
The U.S. government estimates that so far at least 29,000 Somali children have died from starvation. There are many other possible increase in deaths if the food is adequate and trained medical personnel can not reach the area immediately. Food aid alone is not sufficient, condition of the camps are overcrowded causing poor sanitation conditions. Poor sanitary conditions will facilitate transmission of the disease, particularly diseases which spread through contact with the patient and dirty water. Cholera Outbreak is spread through dirty water.
A person can get cholera if the drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated with cholera bacteria. In situations of Cholera Outbreak (epidemics), usually people who have been infected feces into the source of contamination.This disease can spread rapidly in a place that has no sewage treatment (Sewage) and adequate drinking water treatment.
Cholera treatment is easily done by immediately replacing body fluids and salts lost through diarrhea. Patients can be treated with rehydration solution, which consists of a mixture of salt and some sugar that has been packaged, which should be drunk in large quantities. This solution is used worldwide to treat diarrhea.
In the severe cases, treatment is carried out through a fluid replacement by infusion. With rehydration the right way, then less than 1% of cholera patients die. Antibiotics can ease and shorten the illness, but is not as important as rehydration. People who experience severe diarrhea and vomiting should immediately get medical attention. However, the Somali refugee camps shortage of medicines to tackle cholera epidemic that continues to take its toll.
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