Cholera is a bacterial disease usually spread through contaminated water. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. Left untreated, cholera can be fatal within hours, even in previously healthy people.
Modern sewage and water treatment have virtually eliminated cholera in industrialized countries. But cholera still exists in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Haiti. The risk of a cholera epidemic is highest when poverty, war, or natural disasters force people to live in crowded conditions without adequate sanitation.
Cholera Symptoms
Most people exposed to the cholera bacterium (Vibrio cholerae) don’t become ill and don’t know they’ve been infected. But because they shed cholera bacteria in their stool for seven to 14 days, they can still infect others through contaminated water.
Most cases of cholera that cause symptoms cause mild or moderate diarrhea that’s often hard to tell apart from diarrhea caused by other problems. Others develop more serious signs and symptoms of cholera, usually within a few days of infection.
Symptoms of cholera infection can include:
- Cholera-related diarrhea comes on suddenly and can quickly cause dangerous fluid loss — as much as a quart (about 1 liter) an hour. Diarrhea due to cholera often has a pale, milky appearance that resembles water in which rice has been rinsed.
- Nausea and vomiting. Vomiting occurs especially in the early stages of cholera and can last for hours.
- Dehydration can develop within hours after cholera symptoms start and range from mild to severe. A loss of 10% or more of body weight indicates severe dehydration.
- Signs and symptoms of cholera dehydration include irritability, fatigue, sunken eyes, a dry mouth, extreme thirst, dry and shriveled skin that’s slow to bounce back when pinched into a fold, little or no urinating, low blood pressure, and an irregular heartbeat.
- Dehydration can lead to a rapid loss of minerals in your blood that maintains the balance of fluids in your body. This is called an electrolyte imbalance.
Electrolyte imbalance
An electrolyte imbalance can lead to serious signs and symptoms such as:
- Muscle cramps. These result from the rapid loss of salts such as sodium, chloride, and potassium.
- This is one of the most serious complications of dehydration. It occurs when low blood volume causes a drop in blood pressure and a drop in the amount of oxygen in your body. If untreated, severe hypovolemic shock can cause death in minutes.
Complications Of Cholera
Cholera can quickly become fatal. In the most severe cases, the rapid loss of large amounts of fluids and electrolytes can lead to death within hours. In less extreme situations, people who don’t receive treatment can die of dehydration and shock hours to days after cholera symptoms first appear.
Although shock and severe dehydration are the worst complications of cholera, other problems can occur, such as:
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Dangerously low levels of blood sugar (glucose) — the body’s main energy source — can occur when people become too ill to eat. Children are at greatest risk of this complication, which can cause seizures, unconsciousness, and even death.
Low potassium levels. People with cholera lose large quantities of minerals, including potassium, in their stools. Very low potassium levels interfere with heart and nerve function and are life-threatening.
Kidney failure. When the kidneys lose their filtering ability, excess amounts of fluids, some electrolytes, and wastes build up in the body — a potentially life-threatening condition. In people with cholera, kidney failure often accompanies shock.
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Cholera Treatment
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