Thirty-two people have died of cholera in Cameroon over the past two months, from late October to early January, according to Health Minister Manauda Malasi.
The disease, which causes acute diarrhea and can kill within hours of left untreated, is recurring sporadically in this central African country of more than 25 million people.
“On January 1, 2022, the epidemiological situation was that we had 1,102 cases and 32 deaths,” explained Dr. Malasi in his announcement.
According to the minister, the first cases in the current “recurrence” of the epidemic were identified on October 27th and 30th in southwestern and central Cameroon. The disease has since spread to three other regions.
“In the face of the recurrence of cholera (…), above all to avoid its spread, we must observe the basic rules of hygiene as cholera is a disease of impurities, feces,” said on public television CRTV Dr. Linda Esso, Deputy Director of the Department of Epidemics and Pandemics at the Ministry of Health.
The previous outbreak of cholera in Cameroon, from January to August 2020, claimed the lives of 66 people, according to official figures.
At the beginning of 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 1.3 to 1.4 million cases of cholera and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths due to the disease were recorded worldwide each year.
“Safe oral cholera vaccines should be used in conjunction with improved water and sanitation to reduce cholera outbreaks and to prevent prevention in known high-risk areas,” the UN agency said.
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