Dearth Of Clean Water After Nigerian Floods Fuels Cholera Outbreak
The dangers of waterborne pathogens in floodwaters have received increased coverage in the U.S. over the past week as horrifying descriptions of brain-eating amoebas and flesh-eating bacteria have claimed lives in Nevada and in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, respectively. In Nigeria, where the worst flooding in over a decade has killed more than 600 people already, the lack of clean, safe drinking water could fuel a cholera outbreak could devastate the country. Already, thousands of suspected cholera cases have been reported as a UN-described "worrying upsurge" of cholera sound the world and especially in the Middle East and Africa has led WHO officials to suspend the standard two-dose vaccine regime, instead using a single-shot dosage, to enable more people to be vaccinated, albeit less effectively. As world leaders prepare to attend COP27 — claimed by organizers to be the "African COP" despite advocates from numerous African countries being prevented from even attending the conference — the UN warned on Wednesday that close to 1 million people living in areas of Somalia controlled by, or under the influence of, the al-Shabab extremist group are at especially great risk as the drought parching the Horn of Africa fuels a food crisis bordering on famine that has already killed thousands.
(Nigeria Cholera dangers: CNN; Cholera vaccine shortage: CNN; Somalia drought: AP; NIgeria flooding photo essay: The Guardian; Waterborne disease and climate change: Gizmodo; Brain-eating amoeba: E&E News, AP; Flesh-eating bacteria: Washington Post $, The Guardian)
(Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase, Drought)
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