Four die of cholera in Iran – Health Ministry
Washington, 18 August (IranVNC)—Iranian health officials announced yesterday that four individuals have died of cholera in Iran, and that there have been 73 recognized cases of cholera in the country.
By: IranVNC
Published: Monday, August 18, 2008
14:50GMT—10:50AM/EST
CHOLERA – IRAN – WHO
Washington, 18 August (IranVNC)—Iranian health officials announced yesterday that four individuals have died of cholera in Iran, and that there have been 73 recognized cases of cholera in the country.
The head of Iran’s Health Ministry’s Center for Disease Control, Mohammad Mehdi Gooya, said today that the four individuals died after having “arriving late at treatment centers and lost too much body fluid.”
Gooya added that 62 out of the 73 cases of cholera recently reported in Iran were Iranian nationals while the rest were foreign nationals from neighboring countries, mainly Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Most of the cases were reported in Tehran, Qom and Hormozgan provinces, Gooya said.
As recently as last week, the number of cholera cases reported was 58, with one fatality in the city of Karaj near Tehran. In early summer, seven cases of cholera were reported in the city of Qom, but authorities did not officially confirm the news.
According to health officials, Iran’s geographic position, extreme drought, transit passengers from neighboring countries, and a lack of sanitary precautions, make Iran more susceptible to such epidemics than usual.
According to data from the World Health Organization [WHO], current cases of cholera in Iran and neighboring countries can be attributed to a pandemic of cholera, which began in Celebes, Indonesia and spread to other countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, India, the USSR, Iran and Iraq in 1965–1966. By 1970, cholera reached West Africa, where it had not been seen for more than 100 years.
Iran’s Health Ministry also said that in the last 40 years, cases of cholera have been reported in Iran every year.
Source: Mehr News Agency in Persian, WHO website
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(Original article written in Persian.)