7 killed in Kandahar due to Cholera; over 667 infected

Kabul [Afghanistan], July 27 (ANI): At least seven children were killed due to cholera outbreak and 667 others were infected with the disease in less than a week in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, media reports citing doctor in the province stated on Wednesday.
"A total of 9,500 patients affected with diarrhea have been taken to the healthcare center, where 667 of them were diagnosed with cholera disease," Mohammad Daud Ayubi as qouted by Xinhua News Agency said.
The doctor also confirmed that seven children have died of the disease over the past several days in the province.
According to reports, cholera outbreak has earlier claimed the lives of 20 children in the neighbouring Helmand province, while hundreds of cases have been reported in Kandahar, Helmand and neighboring Zabul, and thousands of cases in northern Jawzjan and Kunduz provinces.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, Sharafat Zaman had earlier said that over 100 cases of the disease have been recorded in the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar and that more than 15 people have died as a result of severe cholera in Helmand province alone, Tolo News reported.
Health officials said that this disease, which causes severe diarrhoea and nausea, has been spreading in the small villages of Dasht, Giro Joy, Tak, Shina, and other areas for the past week or so.
A health official in Daikundi province, Sayed Ishaq Hosseini said, "The cholera-like disease, which has severe diarrhoea and vomiting as symptoms, has spread from 6th July in the border region between the Baghran district in Helmand and Nawa Mesh district in Daikundi province. In Helmand and Daikundi provinces, in central and southern Afghanistan, the cholera outbreak has recently killed 11 people in the districts of Nawa Mesh and Baghran."
Cholera is a highly infectious disease caused by consuming food or drinking water having certain bacteria. It causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, which causes dehydration and can lead to death within a few hours if left untreated.
According to the World Health Organisation, "Cholera remains a global threat to public health and is an indicator of inequity and lack of social development."
The spread of cholera had earlier threatened the Afghan people who continued to deal with the aftermath of the recent 5.9-magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan, and now the unknown disease has also become a concern.
Afghanistan is also grappling with a serious humanitarian crisis as according to international assessments, the country now has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world, with more than 23 million in need of assistance, and approximately 95 per cent of the population having insufficient food consumption. (ANI)