The organization pointed out the risk of cholera spreading among the 100,000 people who have been displaced since the outbreak Israel Its military air campaign against Hezbollah began ground operations in South Lebanon.
The representative of the World Health Organization in Lebanon, Abdel Nasser Abu Bakr, said during a video press conference, “If the cholera outbreak… reaches the newly displaced people, its spread may be rapid.”
Abu Bakr added that the United Nations organization warned months ago that the disease may reappear in light of the “deteriorating water and hygiene situation” among the displaced and their host communities.
Although the displaced people were vaccinated in… North Lebanon Recently, Abu Bakr warned that groups of displaced people moving from southern Lebanon and the Beirut area have not acquired any immunity to cholera in three decades.
The first case of cholera infection
The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported the confirmation of a possible case of cholera in a Lebanese woman who went to the hospital on Monday suffering from severe diarrhea and dehydration.
The ministry added that the patient is from the town of Samounieh in northern Lebanon, and she does not have a medical history.
Lebanon witnessed its first cholera outbreak in 30 years between 2022 and 2023, especially in the north of the country.
Cholera is an acute infection that causes diarrhea and results from eating food or drinking water contaminated with Vibrio bacteria CholeraAccording to the World Health Organization.
The number of displaced people had begun to rise even before the escalation last month, as Hezbollah had been exchanging fire across the border with Israel since the outbreak of war between the Hebrew state and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.
