Cholera prompts state of emergency in Iraq province

Cholera prompts state of emergency in Iraq province
Mon Sep 8, 2008 3:12pm BST
HILLA, Iraq, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Officials in Iraq's Babil province declared a state of emergency on Monday after an outbreak of cholera in the area.

Cholera has killed eight people and infected 20 others in the past three days in Babil, south of Baghdad, officials said at a news conference. Ihsan Jaafar, general director of public health at the Health Ministry in Baghdad, said only two fatalities had been confirmed.

Some 500 other people in the province were suspected to have contracted the disease, which can sometimes kill victims with sudden severe diarrhoea, the local officials said.

A representative for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Iraq said the body was still gathering information and would announce its findings soon.

Ambulances patrolled Babil markets warning people through loudspeakers to be careful about where they bought their food and drink and how it was prepared, a Reuters witness said. It was unclear what other measures the state of emergency entailed.

Scarcity of water during Iraq's scorching summer forces many to drink water from unsafe sources. More than 4,000 cases of cholera were confirmed in Iraq last year, killing at least 24.
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