EMC - Cholera Outbreak

This example includes information on the following:

Case finding
Case management
Contacts/Family
Burials and other social gatherings
Food handling
Water and environmental sanitation
Personal hygiene
Health education

Case finding

Any person with watery diarrhea and sunken eye should be considered as a suspected case.

Case management

Any such person should be given ORS and urgently referred to nearest cholera treatment centre.

Contact/Family

All contacts and household members should be observed for
development of diarrhea.

Burials and other social gatherings

Burial of persons deceased from cholera should be let to specially trained staff. It should occur without delay after disinfection of the body, beddings and all personal belonging of the deceased. Burial ritual and ceremonies should be kept minimal.

Food handling

Hands should be thoroughly washed with water and soap before handling food. Food should be cooked and eaten warm. Raw food, non cooked food and pre-cooked food items exposed for long time should be avoided.

Water and environmental sanitation

This area is of utmost importance during cholera outbreak.
«One should drink only water treated by ebullition, chlorination or filtration. Public water sources should be well supervised to make sure they supply treated drinking water. After treatment, drinking water should be stored in appropriate containers and protected from further contamination. «Sanitation measures should be reinforced. Human waste should be disposed off properly. The community should be instructed to use appropriate latrines. The latrines should be regularly inspected. Solid and liquid waste should be treated and disposed off properly, by incineration or burial. House and public areas should be kept tightly clean. Pest control measures should be applied against flies, cockroaches, rodents.

Personal hygiene

Hands should be washed frequently with soap and water, especially before eating or handling food and drinks, after defecation and after handling sick persons, their belongings (clothes, beddings) or their dejections.

Health education

All community members should be informed about the disease, students, mothers, workers, patients with other diseases. All possible media should be used : radio, TV, churches, rallies, public gatherings, posters, booklets, etc. The community should be informed that cholera is a highly communicable disease, caused by a microorganism and spread from one person to another through food, water and soiled hands and other items. An apparently healthy person can harbor cholera germs and transmit them to other peoples or contaminate food and water when hygienic conditions are defective. The germ is easily killed by heat (boiling water, cooking food) or by disinfectants such as chlorine. Washing hands with soap and water help get rid of germs on hands.