Iraq health ministry confirms cholera cases in Sulaimani

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi health ministry on Sunday confirmed 13 cholera cases in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region amid increasing cases of diarrhea among locals in Sulaimani.

The ministry confirmed 10 positive cholera cases in Sulaimani, one in Kirkuk, and another two in Iraq’s southern al-Muthanna province, urging citizens to refrain from drinking dirty water and to wash their hands before meals.

Head of Sulaimani's health department Sabah Hawrami on Sunday said the Iraqi health ministry has directed them to declare a state of emergency in the city.

Hawrami said around four thousand people in Sulaimani were sent to hospitals over the past week due to uncontrolled diarrhea and vomiting. On Thursday, Sulaimani sent 10 specimens from patients to Baghdad to confirm whether they were infected with cholera. 

There has been a recent spike in hospitalization due to diarrhea in Sulaimani, and in Erbil and Duhok to a lower extent.

The Region’s health ministry on Thursday published a statement issued a directive in regards to dealing with the diarrheal outbreak.

Sulaimani last year saw increasing cases of diarrhea. Health officials urged residents to refrain from using unsustainable drinking water.

The Kurdistan Region recorded a large-scale outbreak of cholera in 2007, 2008, and 2012, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholera, says WHO.

It is an indicator of inequality and lack of social development in the country, it adds.

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