Iraq cholera outbreak slows: health ministry

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The spread of cholera in Iraq is slowing thanks to health measures taken to curb an outbreak of the disease, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Cholera has killed 22 people since an outbreak in the northern province of Kirkuk in August and there have been 4,444 confirmed cases, almost exclusively in northern regions.

"The rate of increase is very slow. October was better than September. Thanks to the monitoring of the disease and health awareness campaigns among citizens the situation has became better," a health ministry spokeswoman said.

Cholera is characterized in its most severe form by a sudden onset of acute watery diarrhea that can cause death by severe dehydration and kidney failure within hours. The virulent disease is mainly transmitted through water and food.

With 2,968 cases and five deaths, Kirkuk province has been the epicenter of the outbreak. In neighboring Sulaimaniya, 14 people have died and 1,217 cases have been recorded. In nearby Arbil province there have been 224 cases, the spokeswoman said.

RESTAURANTS, WATER SOURCES

Health officials in Kirkuk said on Tuesday they were still monitoring places such as restaurants and water sources to try and prevent cholera making a comeback.

"The disease is going down. On October 29 we received three cases," said Doctor Sabah al-Dawoudi, head of the health department in Kirkuk. "At the outbreak of the disease we were receiving more than 50 cases a day."

Across Iraq, television stations have been broadcasting advice from officials on how to avoid the disease. In Baghdad, leaflets have been handed out at army checkpoints and schools were making pupils aware of the risks.

In Sulaimaniya, most measures have been lifted but officials are monitoring juice stalls to make sure they use mineral water and restaurants are not allowed to serve salads or tap water.

"We are about to root out the epidemic completely from the Kurdistan region," Zairyan Othman, health minister in Kurdistan, told Reuters.

"At the outbreak of the disease, there were 200-250 cases of diarrhea and vomiting at hospitals in Sulaimaniya. In Arbil it was less, there were 100 or fewer each day, in Kirkuk, 150-200. But the rate has decreased gradually. In the last 24 hours there were 10 cases in the region." said Othman.

(Additional reporting by Sherko Raouf in Sulaimaniya and Mustafa Mahmoud in Kirkuk)