Cholera in Africa

In West and Central Africa, an unusually large outbreak of cholera in 2011 infected more than 106,000 people and killed over 3,500 from Jan. 1 through October. Spreading along waterways, it affected countries normally free of the disease.

UNICEF identified three multicountry outbreaks — in the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger), the West Congo Basin (NW Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic) and at Lake Tanganyika (SE Dem. Rep. of the Congo and Burundi).

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection causing severe diarrhea and vomiting, with a risk of death due to dehydration and fever. It is most often spread by contaminated drinking water.