CHOLERA is the potentially deadly condition caused by drinking dirty water or eating contaminated food.
Cholera is a bacterial infection of the small intestine that is spread through dirty water and food that has been contaminated with an infected person’s faeces.
There also tends to be outbreaks after natural disasters or during a humanitarian crisis, where people are forced to live in cramped conditions with little access to clean drinking water.
What are the symptoms of cholera?
If at this point the disease isn’t treated, the symptoms will get worse and a person can become severely dehydrated very quickly.
The most common treatment for cholera patients is an oral rehydration solution, which can prevent a person becoming too dehydrated.
Is there a vaccine against cholera?
For everyone over the age of six, two doses of the vaccine should be given six weeks apart and at least one week before travelling to an infected area.
They are also putting in place the development of piped water supplies and safe sewage disposal in countries where there is poor sanitation.
For travellers, the NHS has issued advice on what they can do to prevent cholera as well as travellers’ diarrhoea.