The Syrian Ministry of Health announced that the death toll from cholera has reached 29

Amman, September 26/2010 Syria announced yesterday that 29 people died of cholera in the worst disease outbreak in the war-torn country in years.

A rapid assessment investigation has confirmed 338 cases since the outbreak was first recorded last month, the Syrian Ministry of Health said in a statement, with most of the deaths and cases in northern Aleppo province.

He said that 230 people have been found and 25 people have died in Aleppo province. The rest were distributed in Syria.

The United Nations this month said the outbreak was believed to be linked to irrigating crops using contaminated water and people drinking unclean water from the Euphrates River, which divides Syria from north to east. Read more

A highly contagious disease has spread through the country’s Kurdish-controlled and rebel-held areas in north and northwest Syria, where millions have been displaced by the decade-long conflict, medical officials said.

The number of suspected cholera victims in northeast Syria has risen to 2,092, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which operates in the northern region, said there is a risk of under-reporting of the cases.

Western NGOs say the destruction of the national water infrastructure poses a major challenge in Syria, which has 40% less drinking water than before the conflict.

Water scarcity will be exacerbated by climate change.

Syria’s civil defense, a rescue agency operating in opposition-held territory, said on Monday that medics had reported the first three cases of cholera in the crowded Kafr Lusin camps near the border with Turkey.

“This is a dangerous development for civilian life amid poor health conditions and especially in the camps where the spread of the disease is beginning to spread rapidly,” the Western-backed group said in a statement.

The United Nations has warned of high death toll if cholera spreads in the congested region, where tens of thousands of displaced Syrians live in dire conditions with little access to clean water and sanitation.

The World Health Organization has started sending emergency medical supplies and chlorine tablets for water purification, officials said.

Before the recent cholera outbreak, the World Health Organization reported that water shortages had increased problems such as diarrhea, malnutrition and skin diseases.

In the report of Sulayman al-Khalidi; Edited by Ed Osmond and Alexander Smith

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