Cholera: Symptoms, the Cheap Drink That Saves Most Lives and How to Stop It Spreading

Cholera is an infection of the gut caused by drinking water or eating food contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Outbreaks continue in dozens of countries, often after floods, conflict or when clean water and sanitation break down. Without treatment, severe cholera can kill within hours. With fast rehydration, almost everyone survives.

A cheap sachet of salts and clean water. That is what stands between most cholera patients and death. Knowing how to use it could save a life in your community.

Symptoms

• Sudden, large amounts of watery diarrhoea, sometimes pale like “rice water”
• Vomiting
• Leg cramps
• Signs of dehydration: thirst, sunken eyes, dry mouth, little or no urine, weakness

Many infected people have mild or no symptoms but can still spread the bacteria in their stools.

Treatment

• ORS: the World Health Organization says most people can be treated successfully with prompt oral rehydration solution. Give small, frequent sips
• IV fluids for severe dehydration or shock
• Antibiotics for severe cases, as directed by health workers
• Zinc for children, which shortens diarrhoea
• Keep breastfeeding babies and continue feeding

How to prevent cholera

• Drink and use safe water: boiled, chlorinated or bottled
• Wash hands with soap after the toilet, after cleaning a child and before eating or cooking
• Cook food well and eat it hot; peel fruit yourself
• Use toilets or latrines and keep them away from water sources
• Get the oral cholera vaccine when it is offered in outbreak or high-risk areas

Caring for someone with cholera at home

• Keep giving ORS and watch for dehydration
• Wash hands carefully after contact
• Disinfect soiled clothes and surfaces with a chlorine solution
• Take the person to a clinic if diarrhoea is heavy, they cannot drink, or they become drowsy

“But a disease that serious must need hospital drugs.”

Most people with cholera recover with prompt oral rehydration solution alone. Severe cases need IV fluids and antibiotics, but ORS started early saves the majority.

Related: Signs of dehydration · Typhoid fever

Source: World Health Organization, cholera fact sheet and Global Task Force on Cholera Control guidance.