Cholera :

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated by the feces (waste product) of an infected person, including one with no apparent symptoms. Severe cholera, requiring hospitalization, results from the accumulation of about a million bacterial cells within the body.^[1]These cells can be picked up from unsafe drinking water or from eating oysters that have ingested cholera-carrying zooplankton.^[2] The severity of the diarrhea and vomiting can lead to rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, and death in some cases. The primary treatment is oral rehydration therapy, typically with oral rehydration solution, to replace water and electrolytes. If this is not tolerated or does not provide improvement fast enough, intravenous fluids can also be used. Antibacterial drugs are beneficial in those with severe disease to shorten its duration and severity.

Signs and symptoms

The primary symptoms of cholera are profuse diarrhea and vomiting of clear fluid.^[3] These symptoms usually start suddenly, half a day to five days after ingestion of the bacteria.^[4] The diarrhea is frequently described as "rice water" in nature and may have a fishy odor.^[3] An untreated person with cholera may produce 10 to 20 litres (3 to 5 US gal) of diarrhea a day^[3] with fatal results. For every symptomatic person, 3 to 100 people get the infection but remain asymptomatic.^[5] Cholera has been nicknamed the "blue death" because a victim's skin turns bluish-gray from extreme loss of fluids.^[6]

If the severe diarrhea is not treated with intravenous rehydration, it can result in life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.^[3] Cholera victims can be depleted of 18L of fluids in one day, leading to severe dehydration.^[7]The typical symptoms of dehydration include low blood pressure, poor skin turgor (wrinkled hands), sunken eyes, and a rapid pulse

Cause

Transmission is primarily by the fecal contamination of food and water caused by poor sanitation