The WHO warned on Friday that there were no more oral cholera vaccines left in global stocks, posing major problems for the effort to stop the spread of the highly contagious disease.

“As of October 14, the global stock of oral cholera vaccines is exhausted,” in other words, “there are no more doses available,” the World Health Organization said in its monthly report.

“This shortage poses major problems for efforts to combat outbreaks and hinders efforts to control the spread of the disease,” he continued.

Global vaccine production is at its peak, but demand is outstripping supply, the United Nations public health agency has explained.

The WHO said that from September 1 to October 14, the international coordination group on vaccine procurement received requests for oral cholera vaccines from Bangladesh, Sudan, Niger, Ethiopia and Myanmar.

Requests totaled 8.4 million doses, but only 7.6 million doses could be sent.

The WHO noted that there have been 439,724 cholera cases and 3,432 deaths as of September 29 this year. “Although the number of cases in 2024 is 16% lower than last year, the increase in the number of deaths by 126% is very worrying,” he said.

Since last month, new cholera outbreaks have been reported in Niger (705 cases, 17 deaths) and Thailand (five cases with no deaths), bringing to 30 the number of countries affected by 2024, the WHO found.

This month, a case of cholera was detected in Lebanon — a country now at war.

The WHO said the risk of spread there is “very high” because of deteriorating health conditions, especially for the internally displaced.

Cholera, an infection that is transmitted through contaminated food, or water, or feces with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, causes acute diarrhea and dehydration and can lead to the death of the patient in hours if antibiotics are not administered and hydration is not provided as soon as possible. It is extremely dangerous for children, especially the smallest ones.