Cholera isn’t nearly as dangerous as it used to be. If a patient receives treatment as soon as the first symptom (non-stop diarrhea) appears, it is curable. But in its later stages, the fatality rate can rise to as much as 60 percent of all infected cases. The fatality rates are the highest in the poorest parts of the world: in places like Haiti, South Sudan and Nepal. We got to witness the devastating impact of a cholera epidemic first-hand during the monsoon of 2009, when this water-borne disease killed over 300 people in the Mid-Western district of Jajarkot and surrounding areas. In fact, the disease is spotted in various parts of the country every monsoon. Last year, two people died and 1,500 were taken ill in Rautahat. This monsoon, too, a silent cholera epidemic is brewing. Five dozen people have already tested positive for cholera in the national capital in the past two weeks. Health authorities have so far been unable to halt its spread in the Valley and adjoining areas. Some health experts are warning of a ‘catastrophe’ if urgent steps are not taken to control cholera. Thankfully, it’s not hard to do so.
Boiling the water you drink and treating the water you use in your home with chlorine are usually enough to keep the disease at bay. Vaccination is also available. And even if you have the disease, timely treatment will cure you completely. But most of those infected don’t get tested early enough and seek medical help only in later stages. This is also the reason health authorities believe that the actual number of cholera-infected could be many times the number of patients recorded at hospitals. But if these patients are in the capital city, they will, in all likelihood, still survive. But what if the bacterium starts jumping district borders and reaches places like Sindhupalchowk and Gorkha where thousands of people continue to live in makeshift tents in dismal sanitary conditions? In that case, a repeat of Jajarkot 2009 is very much on the cards. Alarmingly, cholera has already been seen in Nuwakot, another of the districts badly affected by the Great Earthquake. This should add to the urgency of expanding the cholera awareness campaign to these vulnerable districts. It will also be important to stock up on oral rehydration solution (ORS) and make them easily available in vulnerable areas.
But prevention, as they say, is always better than cure. Every household should consume only boiled water during the monsoon months, a safeguard not just against cholera but also against many other water-borne diseases. Those who consume water from wells, which have been found to be widely contaminated by cholera bacilli, could during this time use zinc and chlorine tablets to improve water quality. And why aren’t we hearing and reading more government adverts with practical tips against possible infection? If a strain of cholera responsible for the 2010 Haiti outbreak makes an appearance here, it could kill the infected person within two hours of becoming ill. Cholera is definitely not something to be taken lightly in this part of the world.
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