Large Numbers of Victims of Cholera and Diphtheria in Yemen

YemenExtra

SH.A.

The number of people suffering from the cholera epidemic in Yemen is more than 1 million, and (2227) has died,as well as diphtheria has spread in 20 of the 23 governorates where there are more than 471,000 cases of diphtheria while 73 died cases.

The World Health Organization also confirmed that a cholera epidemic in Yemen killed more than 2,000 people could flare up again in the rainy season.

WHO Deputy Director General for Emergency Preparedness and Response Peter Salama said that the number of cholera infections had been in decline in Yemen over the past 20 weeks after it hit the 1 million mark of suspected cases.

“However, the real problem is we’re entering another phase of rainy seasons,” Salama told Reuters on the sidelines of an international aid conference in Riyadh.

“Usually cholera cases increase corresponding to those rainy seasons. So we expect one surge in April, and another potential surge in August.”

While diphtheria, first reported in Yemen in October last year, is a contagious and potentially fatal disease that primarily infects the throat and airways.

The near three-year stalemated war has damaged Yemen’s infrastructure, crippled the health system and pushed it to the brink of famine.