The risk of cholera spreading in Lebanon is "very high", the World Health Organization warned Wednesday, after a case of the acute and potentially deadly diarrheal infection was detected in the conflict-hit country.
The WHO highlighted the risk of cholera spreading among hundreds of thousands of people displaced since Israel escalated an air campaign against Hezbollah and launched a ground offensive intended to push the group back from its northern border with Lebanon.
"If the cholera outbreak … spreads to the new displaced people, it might spread very fast," Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO's representative in Lebanon, told reporters in an online news conference.
Lebanon's health ministry said a cholera case had been confirmed in a Lebanese national who went to hospital on Monday suffering from watery diarrhea and dehydration.
The patient, from Ammouniyeh in northern Lebanon, had no history of travel, the ministry said.
Lebanon suffered its first cholera outbreak in 30 years between 2022 and 2023, mainly in the north of the country.
The disease, which causes severe diarrhea, vomiting and muscle cramps, generally arises from eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated with the bacterium, according to the WHO.
https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/308693-cholera-confirmed-in-lebanon-risk-of-spread-very-high