In a follow-up to a report this weekend about the cholera outbreak in Cape Coast, Ghana, local media report the outbreak in the fishing port city has topped 20 cases, including three fatalities.
A StarrFM report states cholera cases have been reported in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem municipality, the Mfanteman municipality and Twifo Atti Morquah districts.
Governmental and public health authorities are otherwise not saying much about the cholera situation.
Cholera is a bacterial disease that is most often spread by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water. Water is contaminated by the feces (stool) of an infected person or by untreated sewage. Food is often contaminated by water containing cholera bacteria or handled by a person ill with cholera.
Often people have mild illness or no symptoms. However, about 1 in 20 (5%) of infected people will have severe disease characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours.
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