Multiple British nationals fell unwell with a drug-resistant strain of cholera after drinking holy water abroad.
In Ethiopia, almost half of the country’s population – nearly 60,000,000 – don’t have access to scrub water.
But hundreds make pilgrimages to Ethiopia, where holy water is believed to have healing powers.
The Brits who fell unwell with cholera had consumed water brought back from the Bermel Giorgis, a holy site within the country.
The UK Health Security Agency said 4 patients ranging in age from their 20s to 60s became infected.
The travellers had returned to the UK from Ethiopia between January and mid-February of this yr when there had been a resurgence in cholera outbreaks within the country.
‘Three were admitted to the hospital and reported symptoms of watery diarrhoea, vomiting and dehydration, one needed intensive take care of fluid resuscitation,’ Eurosurveillance reported.
All 4 made a full recovery, but other cases in Germany have also been linked to the holy site in Ethiopia, where it’s common for visitors to bring back bottles of the ‘healing’ water.
The most recent outbreak in Ethiopia began in 2022, and nearly 60,000 cases and 726 deaths have been reported, in keeping with Oxford.
Cholera is mostly contracted from contaminated food or water and spreads in residential areas that lack proper sewerage networks or mains drinking water.
It may well take anywhere between 12 hours and five days for an individual to indicate symptoms after ingesting contaminated food or water.
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WaterAid Ethiopia’s Country Director, Yaekob Metena, told Metro: ‘When a community has little alternative but to drink water from unprotected sources comparable to rivers and shallow wells, the outcomes may be utterly devastating as preventable diseases can thrive.
‘In Ethiopia, 59.8 million people – almost half the population – don’t have clean water near home. WaterAid’s vital programmes increase communities’ access to scrub water and lift levels of hygiene awareness.
‘Nonetheless, world leaders have the facility to make cholera a thing of the past by ensuring everyone, in every single place has access to scrub water, decent toilets and good hygiene.
‘Nobody should die of a preventable disease nowadays; and all of it starts with clean water.’
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