A study of health comprehension about the cholera among a slice of University of Baghdad employee

Abstract

Cholera is a specific infectious disease of humans caused by Vibrio cholerae serogroup O1and O139. It is an enzymatic process causing a brief, acute onset diarrhoeal illness, with recurrent vomiting and stools that resemble rice water. This leads to acute rapid dehydration with fluid and electrolyte loss, ending with acidosis and hypovolaemic shock, which is usually fatal if untreated (1–5) . Cholera spreads mainly via drinking water supplies contaminated by human excreta, especially from sub-clinical carriers and mild cases. Humans are the reservoir of the disease, despite isolation of V. cholerae O1 from blue crabs (6) and from the faeces of some aquatic birds (7) . Cholera differs from other enteric diseases in its clinical course (a very short incubation period) and epidemic pattern (rapidly spreading to different countries and disappearing rapidly when outbreaks subside)(8). Cholera is endemic in Asia; from 1817 to 1923 there were 6 pandemic waves which moved through Asia then through the Americas and Africa (9-11) . Iraq is at risk of epidemics spreading from neighbouring countries because it lies on the routes of pilgrimage to Mecca and contains a number of holy shrines. During the epidemic of 1820, when cholera first spread to Basra, there were a great number of deaths and many sectors of the city were completely depopulated (12) . The disease spread to Baghdad, with similar consequences. After that, cholera continued to appear in several epidemic forms during the years 1871, 1889, 1894, 1899 and 1917(13) , after which the disease completely disappeared from Iraq to reappear again in August 1966 as a part of the 7th pandemic spread(9,14). After subsidence of the 7th pandemic in Iraq, occasional outbreaks of cholera continued in Iraq. Recent outbreaks that occur in Iraq during August - October 2008 - As of 29 October 2008, a total of 644 laboratory-confirmed cholera cases, including eight deaths, had been verified in Iraq(15) .