The cholera disease continues to spread throughout Syria, with the Syrian Ministry of Health announcing today (Monday) that the number of deaths in the country from the disease has risen to 29. Since the virus was first detected in the country, the number of confirmed cases stands at 338. Most of the outbreak cases and deaths were in the area of the city of Aleppo.
According to UN data, this is the most severe outbreak of the disease. The UN said this month that the outbreak is linked to the irrigation of crops using contaminated water and people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River that crosses Syria from north to east.
The highly contagious disease has also spread to Kurdish and opposition-controlled areas of the country in northern and northwestern Syria, where millions have been displaced by the decade-long conflict, according to medical officials. The IRC committee operating in Syria announced that more than 2,000 cases of suspected cholera are now being examined.
In addition, a number of medics working in the area under the control of the Syrian opposition near the border with Turkey said that they had identified three cases of cholera in the camps in the village of Lucin: “This is a dangerous development for the lives of civilians. The disease spreads rapidly in poor health conditions, especially in the camps.”