Possible 2022 Mariupol cholera outbreak

Possible 2022 Mariupol cholera outbreak
Mariupol pos.png
Map of Donetsk Oblast, red dot is Mariupol
 Mariupol
 Donetsk Oblast
DiseaseCholera
Virus strainCholera
Location1 country and territory (1 has a confirmed case)
First outbreakMariupol, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine
Date6 June 2022 – present
Confirmed cases1 confirmed case as of 6 June 2022
Suspected cases3 suspected cases
Deaths
1 (as of 6 June 2022)
Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

After the Siege of Mariupol during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was feared that an outbreak of cholera may start in the city. On 6 June 2022, Russian occupational authorities announced a quarantine in Mariupol, following warnings from the Ministry of Healthcare of Ukraine about the possibility of a cholera outbreak in the city.

It has been said that an outbreak could spread beyond Mariupol to other cities within Russia and Ukraine.

Background

During the siege, tens of thousands of people were killed (6,000 Russian/Donetsk People's Republic soldiers, an unknown number of Ukrainian soldiers, and 22,000+ civilians), according to Ukrainian estimates. The Ukrainian parliament, stated on 30 April 2022 that the city's living conditions had been reduced to "medieval" levels, and that most of the city's sanitary and health infrastructure was destroyed, potentially putting the city's citizens at risk of disease.

In late April, the Mariupol City Council urged the evacuation of 100,000 residents, warning of "deadly epidemics" in the city.

On 28 April 2022, the Rospotrebnadzor issued a 40-paragraph resolution calling for additional measures to be taken in regards to drinking and waste water, especially in places which had become locations for Ukrainian refugees (specifically Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Rostov and Voronezh Oblasts), as well as providing information to citizens about cholera by 1 June 2022. The government of Rostov Oblast announced that Ukrainian refugees in Russia would be tested for cholera.

On 17 May 2022, the World Health Organization warned of the possibility of cholera outbreaks in Ukraine, with WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge saying, "We are concerned about the potential cholera outbreak in occupied areas where water and sanitation infrastructure is damaged or destroyed." Such concerns were echoed by WHO Ukraine incident Manager Dorit Nitzan, who reported "swamps" of waste water on the streets of Mariupol, and claimed that there were cases of sewage and drinking water being mixed in the city.

Possible outbreak

On 6 June 2022, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Healthcare Ihor Kuzin said warned against a potential cholera outbreak in the city; saying that all preconditions for an outbreak were already present. In addition to Mariupol, Ukrainian task forces tested soil and drinking water in Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, and Sumy Oblasts. Shortly after his announcement, Russian occupational authorities imposed a quarantine on the city.

Spread

Medical officials in Ukraine and Russia have cautioned that cholera could spread beyond Mariupol, with Russian government officials in oblasts bordering Ukraine establishing labs to treat cholera. Ukrainian epidemiologist Liudmyla Mukharska warned that the outbreak could spread throughout the rest of the Donbas, and that outbreaks of intestinal infections, dysentery, salmonellosis, and hepatitis A and E were possible. Other epidemiologists said that due to rotations of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine and the deportation of Ukrainians to filtration camps within Russia, the spread of the cholera outbreak to Russia was inevitable.


This page was last updated at 2022-07-21 07:15 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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