Woman dies of cholera in Baghdad
BAGHDAD (AFP) — A woman has died of cholera in Baghdad, marking the first confirmed fatality in the capital since the bacterial disease began spreading from northern Iraq, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
Her death brings to 12 the number of Iraqis confirmed to have died of cholera since the outbreak was first detected on August 23.
"A woman aged 40 died on Monday after being infected with cholera," Dr Amir al-Khuzai, senior deputy in the ministry of health, told AFP.
"The woman, who lived in Jisr Diyal (south Baghdad), spent seven days in hospital before she died. Her son is still infected with cholera," Khuzai added.
He said that in August, nine people died in Sulaimaniyah, in the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq where the disease was first detected, while one person died in the northern oil city of Kirkuk.
The Baghdad death was the second recorded in September after one person died in northern Nineveh province, Khuzai said.
"A total of 2,082 people are infected with cholera in Iraq according to the last statistical figures recorded on September 23," he added.
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 northern provinces of Sulaimaniyah, Arbil and Kirkuk, according to the World Health Organisation.
WHO spokewoman Fadela Chaib told journalists in Geneva last week that the spread of cholera into Baghdad was largely expected because of the intense movement of people and goods between the northern areas and the capital.
