The threat of cholera in Ukraine: why there is a risk of serious diseases after destruction
Experts warn of cholera and dysentery epidemics in devastated cities of Ukraine. You can find out why these diseases are promoted by the war and what it means for the people in the video.
Experts warn of cholera and dysentery outbreaks in devastated Ukrainian cities. The situation is also closely monitored in Switzerland.
Ukraine’s president warns against thousands of casualties if cholera breaks out in the war zone. Destroyed cities such as Mariupol (see video) are particularly at risk. The World Health Organization (WHO) sees a high risk of a cholera outbreak in the city of Mariupol.
“But WHO has not yet received any reports of suspected or confirmed cases,” a spokeswoman in Geneva said on Saturday. WHO is not located in Mariupol itself, but is in close contact with local partners.
Burnt wrecks of cars lie on the side of the road during heavy fighting at the front in Sievierodonetsk.
Oleksandr Ratuszniak / AP / dpa
The British Ministry of Defense and Mayor Vadym Boichenko, expelled from Mariupol by the Russian military, have already talked about single cases of cholera in the city.
As cholera can also be transmitted, developments in Switzerland are closely monitored, Blick reports. “Pogen cholera can be transmitted by people with symptoms of diarrhea or by people who have recently become ill while traveling,” explains Peter M. Keller, deputy head of diagnostics at the Institute of Infectious Diseases at the University of Bern.
Jan Fehr, head of the department of public and global health and physician at the University of Zurich, does not anticipate large-scale spread through refugees beyond the crisis area. “Nevertheless, you have to be vigilant here, and our healthcare professionals should think about it if a person in this region is spotted with diarrhea.”
created from agency materials