Following confirmation of 322 cases of cholera in Karachi in the previous five months, the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to procure a cholera vaccine to immunize children in 10 most-affected Union Councils (UCs) in the city.
An official of the Sindh Health Department said: “WHO has offered us to procure cholera vaccine following an outbreak in Karachi. Most of the cases have been reported from 10 UCs in three districts, where this vaccine would be used to immunize children.”
WHO officials in Karachi also confirmed that they were negotiating with different biotechnological firms for the procurement of cholera vaccine and added that they would be used in three districts, including South, Central and East from where most of the cholera cases were being reported.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with Vibrio cholera, and if not treated timely, acute watery diarrhea can lead to severe dehydration and death.
Claiming that no death has so far been reported due to cholera in Karachi, the health department official maintained that the number of cholera cases was decreasing due to Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs), including the provision of safe drinking water but added that cases were still being reported from 10 hot spots in the city.
Infectious diseases experts said although cholera is an endemic disease in Pakistan, an unprecedented increase in the cases of cholera, an acute diarrheal infection caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water contaminated has been witnessed in Karachi, where hundreds of children and adults were brought to public and private hospitals for treatment in the last few months.
Officials at the National Institute of Child (NICH), Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital and Research Center (SIDH&RC) at NIPA, and Civil Hospital Karachi confirmed to The News that the city was facing the worst outbreak of cholera in recent years as hundreds of patients, including both children and adults, were brought to their health facilities for treatment.
