Lebanon Warns Cholera Outbreak ‘Spreading Rapidly’

Facts

• Health officials warned Wednesday that a deadly cholera outbreak is "spreading rapidly" in Lebanon, leaving at least five dead in its first outbreak since 1993. Poor sanitation and dilapidated infrastructure have made Lebanon vulnerable to the virulent disease spreading from Syria.
• The epidemic comes weeks after an outbreak in Syria erupted due to damaged water treatment plants and sanitation infrastructure, with Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad saying they've recorded 169 cases since Oct. 6, nearly half of them in recent days.
• According to Abiad, the vast majority of cases were Syrian refugees, though authorities report an increase in cases among the Lebanese population. More than 1M Syrian refugees have entered Lebanon, many of them already deeply in poverty before the collapse of Lebanon's economy occurred.
• Cholera is highly contagious and contracted from contaminated water or food, causing diarrhea and vomiting, and can be fatal without treatment. Abiad suggested multiple infrastructure causes for the outbreak—including agricultural pollution and frequent power cuts to water pumping and sewage stations.
• Lebanon's Health Ministry is preparing to establish field hospitals and distribute medical supplies. The United Nations Children's Fund said that a response plan is in place, including sending 80K liters of fuel to critical water treatment stations in areas with confirmed and suspected cholera cases.
• Due to a global supply shortage as cholera outbreaks surge, the World Health Organization now recommends that countries temporarily switch to using a single dose of the cholera vaccine instead of two. Between 21K to 143K die from cholera annually according to the WHO.

Sources: Al Jazeera and Alarabiya.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The New Arab. This latest outbreak in Lebanon is no coincidence, as cholera is often the result of man-made disasters such as war and forced migration. Lebanon knows that, as Syria's neighbor, it has received more than a million refugees fleeing a conflict. Syria's 12-year conflict destroyed most of its water treatment infrastructure and health systems, and this has produced a cascading effect on Lebanon.
• Narrative B, as provided by UPI. This goes beyond regional issues like Syria, Lebanon, and Haiti - this is a global wake-up call. The world has a limited cholera vaccine supply, and nations can't afford to get caught flat-footed as they did with COVID and Monkeypox. Our discourse can't confine the danger to Lebanon and other impacted nations, it's an escalating problem for the international community.