WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CHOLERA

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

The main symptoms are watery diarrhea and vomiting. This may result in dehydration and in severe cases grayish-bluish skin.Transmission occurs primarily by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated by the feces (waste product) of an infected person, including one with no apparent symptoms.

The severity of the diarrhea and vomiting can lead to rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, and death in some cases. The primary treatment is oral rehydration therapy, typically with oral rehydration solution, to replace water and electrolytes. If this is not tolerated or does not provide improvement fast enough, intravenous fluids can also be used. Antibacterial drugs are beneficial in those with severe disease to shorten its duration and severity.

The primary symptoms of cholera are profuse diarrhea and vomiting of clear fluid. These symptoms usually start suddenly, half a day to five days after ingestion of the bacteria. The diarrhea is frequently described as "rice water" in nature and may have a fishy odor. An untreated person with cholera may produce 10 to 20 litres (3 to 5 US gal) of diarrhea a day.^[2] Severe cholera kills about half of affected individuals  Estimates of the ratio of asymptomatic to symptomatic infections have ranged from 3 to 100 Cholera has been nicknamed the "blue death" because a person's skin may turn bluish-gray from extreme loss of fluids.

If the severe diarrhea is not treated, it can result in life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.

Fever is rare and should raise suspicion for secondary infection. Patients can be lethargic, and might have sunken eyes, dry mouth, cold clammy skin, decreased skin turgor, or wrinkled hands and feet. Kussmaul breathing, a deep and labored breathing pattern, can occur because of acidosis from stool bicarbonate losses and lactic acidosis associated with poor perfusion. Blood pressure drops due to dehydration, peripheral pulse is rapid and thready, and urine output decreases with time. Muscle cramping and weakness, altered consciousness, seizures, or even coma due to electrolyte losses and ion shifts are common, especially in children.

Cholera is typically transmitted by either contaminated food or water. In the developed world, seafood is the usual cause, while in the developing world it is more often water. Most cholera cases in developed countries are a result of transmission by food. This occurs when people harvest oysters in waters infected with sewage, as Vibrio cholerae accumulates in zooplankton and the oysters eat the zooplankton.Cholera has been found in two animal populations: shellfish and plankton.

People infected with cholera often have diarrhea, and if this highly liquid stool, colloquially referred to as "rice-water", contaminates water used by others, disease transmission may occur. The source of the contamination is typically other cholera sufferers when their untreated diarrheal discharge is allowed to get into waterways, groundwater or drinking water supplies. Drinking any infected water and eating any foods washed in the water, as well as shellfish living in the affected waterway, can cause a person to contract an infection. Cholera is rarely spread directly from person to person.