Let's Talk About Cholera

It has been ages since cholera illness have been around as long as I can remember. Though it might not receive the publicity it should be as compared to the other disease like headache, HIV and many more but I strongly believe it should be a disease to be discussed and more exposure needed to educate people on it more.Cholera is a very serious illness caused by a type of bacteria which is called Vibrio cholerae. It makes you have a lot of watery diarrhea and vomiting because these bacteria infect your intestines.

Usually, people get sick with cholera from eating or drinking things that have these bad bacteria in them. Cholera is like having really bad diarrhea and throwing up a lot, and it can make you very thirsty because you lose a lot of the liquids in your body. If you don't get help for it, it can even be deadly. Yes it can lead to death as research has shown figures of number of people who died as a result of them not been attended to when they have the disease.

Transmission

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The big question in many of us mind is how is cholera transferred or better still is it a transmittable disease. Well the truth is that Cholera is not picky; it spreads through water or food that's been contaminated. These bacteria can live in water for quite a while, even in big rivers, small lakes, streams, and even in tiny puddles. Surprisingly, they can also get into your food if it's been washed or grown with dirty water.

People can catch cholera by drinking water that's not clean or by eating food that's been touched by those bad bacteria. These germs can also sneak into your body if you have any cuts or scrapes on your skin. This is why necessity should be attached to taking clean and healthy water

Symptoms

When you get cholera, the symptoms usually start showing up about 1 to 3 days after those bacteria make their way into your body. The most common thing is that you'll have really watery diarrhea, and it can be so bad that you lose a lot of fluids, like a big bottle of water, every hour.

But it doesn't stop there; cholera can also make you:

• Vomiting

• Muscle cramps

• Debility

• Headaches

• Pyrexia

• Numbing of extremities

When you begin to notice this Symptoms, it is advisable you quickly carry out a fast test to see whether you have been infected by the cholera illness or not. Doctors can figure out if you have cholera by doing a special test on your poop. Yep, they're looking for those Vibrio cholerae bacteria in your poop to make sure.

Prevention

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When we talk about Preventing cholera, it is all about keeping things clean and making sure you have safe water to drink. And the most fortunate thing is those preventions are not difficult to adhere to. In fact some which I will be listing is what we are familiar with. The issue is we don't practice those preventives measures. Here are some things you can do:

• 1. Clean Water Supply: We need to make sure that everyone has access to clean and safe drinking water. This means building better systems to treat water and make it safe for people to drink.

• 1. Good Sanitation: It's really important to have good sanitation practices, like building toilets and sewage systems, to keep our environment clean.

• 1. Teach Hygiene: We should teach people why it's so important to wash their hands, handle food the right way, and make sure human waste is disposed of safely.

• 1. Vaccination: In some places where cholera is a big problem, doctors might give people vaccines to protect them.

• 1. Keep an Eye Out and Respond Quickly: We need systems in place to quickly find cholera when it shows up and take action to stop it from spreading.

Conclusion

Cholera used to be a big mystery and a deadly disease, but we're getting better at dealing with it, thanks to doctors and improved sanitation. However, it's still a serious issue in places where people don't have easy access to clean water or proper toilets.

So, remember, keeping things clean, having good bathrooms, and knowing what to do when someone gets sick are really important. We must continue fighting this ancient and dangerous disease to keep our friends and family safe.

REFERENCES SOURCES

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