Cholera spreads to Baghdad: WHO

A cholera outbreak in Iraq has reached the capital, Baghdad, where one case has been confirmed, the World Health Organisation said Friday. Laboratory tests confirmed on Wednesday that a 25 year-old woman was suffering from the disease, WHO spokewoman Fadela Chaib told journalists. Two more suspected cases in Baghdad were also being tested.
About 29,000 cases of acute watery diarrhoea have been recorded in Iraq over the past month, including 1,500 confirmed cases of cholera, mainly in the north-eastern provinces of Suleimaniyah, Erbil and Kirkuk, according to the WHO.
Chaib said the spread of the bacterial disease into Baghdad was largely expected because of the intense movement of people and goods between the northern areas and the capital. "For the time being we have only one case. It's likely that others will be suspected and identified," Chaib said.