International agencies are bracing themselves for outbreaks of cholera and diarrhoeal disease in Iraq.
Thousands of children are already suffering from diarrhoeal disease 鈥� a major killer after the 1991 Gulf War. And now 17 cases of cholera have been confirmed in two hospitals in Iraq鈥檚 major southern city of Basra.
The World Health Organization warned of a suspected cholera outbreak on Wednesday. WHO experts suspect there may be 10 times the number of cases so far discovered.
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鈥淲e expect a cholera epidemic in southern Iraq and we fear hundreds of cases,鈥� Fadila Shaib, a WHO spokeswoman, told a press conference in Basra.
Deadly diseases like cholera and typhoid are endemic in the region but the collapse of Iraq鈥檚 public health system and the ongoing lack of clean water following the war have fuelled worries of a public health catastrophe.
Simon Ingram, a spokesman for UNICEF in Amman, Jordan, told New 杏吧原创 that damage to the country鈥檚 water stations was 鈥渁n acute worry鈥�. He said: 鈥淵ou can see a direct correlation between bad water quality and diarrhoeal disease.鈥�
Unpleasant smell
Ingram said that damage to the water purification plants caused by looters has had severe effects on water cleanliness and consequently on people鈥檚 health. Although cholera has been reported, he said information from aid workers in Iraq is fragmentary.
The WHO says seven cases of cholera were confirmed in young children aged 13 months to four years-old at the Al-Tahrir Teaching Hospital in Basra. Doctors say they are seeing 30 admissions a day for diarrhoeal disease. At the Basra Children鈥檚 Hospital, 90 per cent of the 200 daily outpatients are being treated for diarrhoea. They have four confirmed cases of cholera.
Acute respiratory infections are also a problem, particularly in young children. A WHO assessment in Mosul in mid-April showed 8063 cases. Diarrhoea was the second leading cause of illness with 6401 cases.
鈥淭he shortage of water and the quality of water is getting worse,鈥� warns Ingram. He said UNICEF鈥檚 appeal on 29 April for 400 tonnes of chlorine to purify water in southern Iraq had gained a response but supplies are not getting into Iraq fast enough. 鈥淚f they aren鈥檛 in in a matter of days, we will see untreated water pumped straight into people毂爐aps,鈥� he said.
Iraq relies heavily on water treatment plants to take water mainly from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. But raw sewage is also dumped into these. Ingram said that anecdotal reports from UNICEF teams in southern Iraqi towns like Basra and Nasiriyah suggested that the water supply to homes was down by 50 per cent or more.
鈥淭he quality of water has dropped severely and this is very evident when the teams visited people鈥檚 homes. They took [water] samples which had a very unpleasant smell and contained bacterial pollution.鈥�