CORRECTED(OFFICIAL)-Millions at risk of cholera in Ethiopia, WHO warns

Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:43pm GMT

[-] Text [+]

(Corrects figure in 12th para for number of refugees in Dadaab to 380,000 from 440,000, after an official correction by UNHCR)

* Outbreak not confined to refugees

* Horn of Africa at risk of disease due drought, movements

* U.N. refugee agency planning airlift of aid and tents

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, July 15 (Reuters) - Five million people are at risk of cholera in drought-hit Ethiopia, where acute watery diarrhoea has broken out in crowded, unsanitary conditions, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

Cholera, an acute intestinal infection, causes watery diarrhoea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death if treatment is not promptly given, according to the United Nations agency.

"Overall, 8.8 million people are at risk of malaria and 5 million of cholera (in Ethiopia)," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said in a note sent to journalists.

Ethiopian health officials have confirmed cases of acute watery diarrhoea in the Somali, Afar and Oromiya regions of Ethiopia, he told Reuters. "It is not confined to the refugees." Continued...

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