Water problems give rise to deadly cholera outbreak

BEIRUT — A deadly cholera outbreak has been spreading in northern Syria over the past two weeks in areas where millions of people displaced by the country's long civil war are suffering from a lack of clean water and health care, according to aid organizations that have warned of another potential humanitarian crisis.

Save the Children said data provided by the Syrian government indicated there had been 23 cholera-related deaths last week. Health authorities in the autonomous region of northeast Syria, which broke away from Syrian government control in 2013, reported 16 additional deaths. Aid officials said thousands of others are believed to have contracted cholera in the country's first major outbreak in years.

“The outbreak of cholera threatens more misery for hundreds of thousands of Syrians already at risk from hunger, conflict and the coming winter,” said Tanya Evans, Syria director for the International Rescue Committee. “A decade of conflict has left the health care system in Syria extremely fragile and severely under-resourced, making it much harder to mobilize a response to any potential epidemics.”

After 11 years of war, roughly 7 million Syrians are internally displaced and dependent on humanitarian aid. The United Nations has said it expects almost two-thirds of the Syrian population to face food shortages this year, partly because of increased prices linked to the war in Ukraine and a drop in funding for Syrian aid operations.

The humanitarian aid department of the European Commission warned of a high risk that the disease could spread further through displaced persons camps in northern Syria.

Cholera is highly contagious and caused by drinking water contaminated by feces or by eating food grown or prepared with contaminated water. It causes severe diarrhea and vomiting, which if left untreated, can result in fatal dehydration.

Years of drought in Syria coupled with extensive damage to the country's infrastructure have left millions of Syrians short of clean water and lacking access to basic health care.

The Syrian Health Ministry two weeks ago declared a cholera outbreak in the northern province of Aleppo after reporting nine deaths throughout the country.