More than 1,400 infected with cholera in Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region  – Iraq’s health ministry said this week that more than 1,400 cases of cholera have been recorded nationwide, urging people to use clean water and wash fruit and vegetables before eating.

“Up until the night of Monday, October 12, the number of infections of cholera in Iraq reached 1,430, out of which one person died,” said Ahmed Rideni, a health ministry spokesperson.

Rideni said the figures were for all of Iraq, including the autonomous northern Kurdistan region, and that the number of infections was lower than another outbreak in 2008.

Meanwhile, a health official in the city of Duhok in the Kurdistan region, said that several cases of cholera were found in the city this week.

“From Thursday to Sunday 23 people infected with cholera have been admitted at the Azadi hospital in Duhok,” Dr. Afrasiyab Younis, director of the Azadi Hospital in Duhok, told Rudaw.

“The majority of cases are from the refugee camps," he added.

In 2007, dirty water led to an outbreak of cholera in Iraq, reportedly infecting about 7,000 people and killing 10.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), large-scale outbreaks of cholera were also reported in the Kurdistan region in 2007, 2008 and 2012.