Cuban cholera outbreak 'eradicated'

03 September 2012 09:50

Cuba's cholera outbreak has been eradicated, health officials have announced

Cuba's cholera outbreak has been eradicated, health officials have announced

Cuba's first outbreak of cholera for more than a century has been eradicated, the country's health ministry has announced. An outbreak of the water-borne illness was reported in July in the eastern part of Cuba where 417 people were infected.

Medics are not sure how the bacterial infection of the small intestine, which causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, was reintroduced to Cuba but believe flooding from heavy rains into drinking wells caused its rapid spread. Despite the latest development, holidaymakers heading to Cuba in the coming weeks are still advised to arrange medical travel insurance before visiting the island.

Hospitals near the centre of the outbreak initially struggled to cope with the influx of patients with the disease. Julio Cesar Fonseca Rivero, director of the Celia Sanchez Manduley Hospital in Granma Province, said: "They started coming in a few at a time. The first day five came, and then eight. The most critical days were when there were 30 to 32 patients who arrived in a single day."

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