Cholera is a bacterial infection that can cause severe diarrhoea and vomiting. The symptoms of cholera are:

large amounts of diarrhoea (which sometimes looks like rice water)
vomiting (which sometimes looks like rice water)
leg cramps
feeling weak.
Severe diarrhoea can cause dehydration, which can lead to weakness and even death if not treated rapidly. Symptoms and signs of dehydration are thirst, weakness or fatigue, sunken eyes and decreased skin elasticity.

Infants, young children, older people and people who are already sick are most at risk of getting severely ill if they get cholera. The most important things to reduce cholera deaths is for anyone with symptoms to drink oral rehydration solution as soon as they become ill, and to get to a health centre fast.

Not everyone who is infected with the bacteria gets ill. Approximately 20% of people who are infected with the bacteria get symptoms. Symptoms usually start between 12 hours and 5 days after being exposed. Of people with symptoms, usually 20–30% develop severe disease.

You can catch cholera by:

drinking contaminated water;
eating contaminated food (e.g., food that is raw, poorly cooked, or that becomes contaminated with poo (faeces) during preparation or storage);
contact with the poo (faeces), vomit or things that have been contaminated with the poo or vomit of someone who has cholera; and
unprotected contact with the body of someone who has died from cholera.

Inserted by Zimbabwe Online Health Centre

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