Cholera outbreak kills 200 in Cameroon

Cameroon’s Health Ministry has announced the death of more than 200 people in the north of the country due to a cholera outbreak over the past two months.

The health delegate for the northern region of the West Central African country, Rebecca Djao, said on Tuesday that over 1,500 people have so far been infected with the water-borne bacteria.

Only one in 20 citizens in Cameroon has access to toilets and less than one-third to safe drinking water in the country of 22 million people, according to Cameroon’s Minister of Public Works Andre Mama Fouda.

Cholera is an acute intestinal illness that causes severe stomach aches, diarrhea and vomiting. The disease is commonly contracted by drinking water or consuming foods that are contaminated with the cholera bacteria.

The mortality rate for those infected with the bacteria can range between one and 60 percent, depending on access to treatment.

A similar Cholera outbreak in 2010 left more than 4,000 people dead.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 586 cholera cases in South Sudan in late May, 22 of which led to deaths. The agency says it has deployed experts, including epidemiologists, logisticians and public health officers, as well as other resources to support the response to Cholera outbreaks across Africa.

Meanwhile, a number of African nations are currently struggling to contain the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease, which as of July 2014 has killed more than 670 of those infected with the deadly virus.