Cholera Outbreaks Surge Worldwide as Vaccine Supply Drains

A record number of cholera outbreaks around the globe, driven by droughts, floods and armed conflicts, has sickened hundreds of thousands of people and so severely strained the supply of cholera vaccines that global health agencies are rationing doses.

Outbreaks have been reported in the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, putting the health of millions at risk and overwhelming fragile health systems. Untreated, the disease, which is commonly spread through contaminated water, can cause death by dehydration in as little as one day, as the body tries to expel a virulent bacteria in gushes of vomit and watery diarrhea.

Cholera is typically fatal in about 3 percent of cases, but the World Health Organization says it is killing at an accelerated rate in recent outbreaks, even though it is relatively cheap and easy to treat. It is most often fatal in children, who progress swiftly to severe illness and organ failure.

Cholera outbreaks tend to follow displacement: When droughts, floods, famines or the threat of violence force large groups of people to move, and they lose access to clean water and adequate sanitation facilities, cholera bacteria can race through a population. This year has seen cholera both in places where it is a familiar threat, and in countries that have not confronted it for decades.

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In Nigeria, a million people have been displaced by floods in recent weeks, and there are at least 6,000 cases of cholera. The authorities in Kenya are reporting suspected cholera in people fleeing violence in Somalia and arriving at the mammoth Dadaab refugee camp, where tens of thousands of children are at risk.