Cameroon shuts out Ebola as Cholera kills hundreds

Cameroon is making some progress with keeping Ebola out of the country after closing its borders with neighboring Nigeria and suspending air, sea and land travel from other affected West African countries.

But a cholera outbreak in the north of the country has killed around 200 people in two months and left over 1500 sick, the ministry of health has said, causing a public health problem as big as the Ebola outbreaks in Liberia, Sierra Leon, Guinea and Nigeria.

With the raining season, it could worsen the epidemic,thus health workers have assured that Ebola is taking all international attention while insecurity caused by the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram is preventing the delivery of needed care.

Contaminated water in affected areas of the Far North, leaves inhabitants largely dependent on streams and lack adequate sanitary infrastructure. This has therefore heightened spread of cholera endemic.

Cholera is a highly contagious waterborne infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, leading to dehydration and often death if not quickly and properly treated. Vomiting also occurs in some patients.

Cameroon has been battling with on-off cholera epidemics since 1973 – most of it in the semi-arid north of the country. In 2011, the country registered more than 17,000 suspected cases with more than 630 deaths. In 2010, cholera killed 657 people and sickened more than 40,000 in nine of the country’s ten regions.

Relief workers said the recent outbreak is suffering because Cameroonian authorities were redirecting resources from cholera control to border crossings to shut out Ebola. “This is distracting from an appropriate and fast response to this cholera epidemic,” said Atilio Rivera-Vasquez of International Medical Corps in Yaounde last month.

The government has been forced to close the border with Nigeria in order to “act preventively than to have to cure,” said Issa Tchiroma, the minister of communication and government spokesman. The decision came after the government and airlines agreed to cancel flights.

Cameroon has a 2000-km highly porous border with Nigeria.

No confirmed or suspected case of Ebola has been officially reported in Cameroon even though rumors have continued to run wild about sick people arriving at airports in Yaounde and Douala.

Health officials were forced to dispel rumors of suspected cases last week. The World Health Organization says the viral disease also known as hemorrhage fever has so far been limited to the four affected countries.

More than 1200 people are now known to have been killed by the West African Ebola outbreak, which has been described as the worst to be ever reported. Nigeria has reported progress in containing the disease and has sent home two treated patients.