Cholera is all in the foreign news nowadays, as Haiti is trying to tackle an outbreak. Haiti is truly suffering; they had a massive earthquake just about a year ago, and a large part of the population is still living in unsanitary tent cities; then a month ago a hurricane swept through; now there is cholera. In Kenya, cholera pops up now and again, but I don't recall such an epidemic of it as in Haiti. We did have one outbreak while I was there; no vaccine was available, so I just ensured strict hygiene practices, of hand washing for the man who worked for me, and I cooked all our food myself, and boiled all our water.
It is primarily a disease which proliferates in dirty water, unsanity latrines, and the lack of plentiful clean water for washing hands and preparing food. When the population has to rely on dirty pools and rivers for their water, then the cholera bacteria, Vibrio cholerae, can easily increase in warm, filthy water. Its symptoms are profuse watery diarrhoea and vomiting. Dehydration is what causes death, so oral re-hydration salts are the first treatment, to replace lost liquid and salts/sugars from the body. If that fails, then it is treatable with intravenous fluids and anti-biotics. The anti-biotic we are taking against malaria, doxycycline, is also a treatment for cholera.
So for our team out in Kisumu, we have to ensure we eat only hot food, or fruit we have washed and peeled ourselves. Salads and raw vegetables or things like ham are a definite no-no !! Tea is safe ... as African tea with the milk and sugar added, is usually boiled to death, for a considerable period ! Drinking water we will have to buy, and this applies to teeth cleaning water too. Water for washing ourselves or clothes can be the normal town supply, which may or may not be treated against water bourne diseases.
We will all have had cholera immunisations ... I had my second dose yesterday ! Nowadays its two doses of Dukoral taken a week apart.
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