One hundred and forty people have died of cholera since October 2021 in Cameroon, where more than 7,000 cases have been recorded since the resurgence of this disease, the Prime Minister announced on Wednesday.
Cholera, an acute diarrheal disease, from which one can die in a few hours in the absence of treatment, reappears periodically in Cameroon, a central African country with a population of more than 25 million.
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“The updated epidemiological situation shows since October 2021 a total of 7,287 notified cases, including 140 deaths
,” wrote Joseph Dion Ngute in a press release.
A previous assessment was in March of 62 dead with nearly 2100 cases.
“Three regions continue to register new patients
,” added the Prime Minister, specifying that these regions are the Littoral, with Douala as the capital, the economic capital, the West and the English-speaking South-West.
A vaccination campaign is planned for the beginning of June in the country, the government announced.
The previous resurgence of cholera killed 66 people in Cameroon between January and August 2020. At the start of 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that there were 1.3 to 4 million cases of cholera each year. and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths from this disease worldwide.
“Safe, oral cholera vaccines should be used in conjunction with improved water supply and sanitation to limit cholera outbreaks and promote prevention in areas known to be at high risk” ,
according to the UN organization.
