WHO confirms cholera and whooping cough outbreaks

Following a week of unconfirmed reports of a cholera outbreak in the border district of Spin Boldak in the southern province of Kandahar, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had recorded 35 cases with seven fatalities. "We collected six cases for laboratory testing here in Kabul, four of which proved positive for cholera," Dr Assadullah Taqdeer a National Emergency Health Assistant (EHA) officer told IRIN on Thursday in the Afghan capital. According to the world health body, the outbreak occurred on 28 August but had now been contained. "WHO and other relevant health orgnisations in the area established emergency Cholera Treatment Centres (CTCs) which could bring the outbreak under control," Taqdeer notified, adding that no new deaths had been reported. Taqdeer said the outbreak, which happened in Mullah Vali village of Spin Boldak, was caused by dirty drinking water. "The problem is that the people are using surface water from the river because there is no safe drinking water," he said. The disease was rapidly identified on this occasion, because it was tested and confirmed by a laboratory inside Afghanistan for the first time. "We used to send cases abroad for testing but since six months the Kabul central lab facility is able to undertake cholera outbreak tests inside the country," Taqdeer added. WHO also reported an outbreak of whooping cough in the Ragh district of the northeastern province of Badakhshan with a number of new cases. "In mid-August an outbreak of whooping cough happened in the Ragh district of Badakhshan," the EHA officer said, noting that based on reports, there were 115 cases and 12 children had died so far. The UN health agency said emergency response teams had been sent to the area. "The teams will make a plan, distribute medicine and launch a campaign to prevent the spread of the disease to neighboring districts". Badakhshan is a mountainous and isolated province. According to WHO, inaccessibility and lack of qualified health workers in the area is one of the most serious problems. "Unavailability of health man power, inaccessibility and the low nutrition of children are the major reasons cholera can grip communities in the region," Taqdeer underlined. The remote region is experiencing whooping cough for the second time in a year. "Last November there was another outbreak of whooping cough in Darwaz and Wakhan districts of Badakhshan," Taqdeer specified, adding 17 people had died before the outbreak was controlled.