I hear that there is a cholera breakout in Iraq?

Question

Does the military have the means to protect our soldiers , airman, marines from this disease.

Answer 1

Cholera is a common disease in areas where there is poor sanitation and open sewers. The bacteria that causes the disease, _Vibrio_cholerae_, is a short, curved, motile, gram-negative, non-sporulating rod that causes vomiting, headache, intestinal cramping with little or no fever, followed rapidly by painless, voluminous diarrhea. Fluid loss can be up to 5-10 liters per day, and without treatment, death may result from severe dehydration, hypovolemia, and shock.

However, there is a cholera vaccine, which is part of the normal treatment regime for soldiers in theater, though it only provides protection for 6 months at a time, at which point a booster must be given. Prevention works even better, and requires washing of green, leafy vegetables and boiling of water from local sources.

Cholera outbreaks are common in the Middle East, because so many areas use grey water for irrigation, and have open sewers. While I was over there (Jordan, Kuwait, and Israel), I was warned explicitly NOT to eat raw, green, leafy vegetables, such as you might find at a salad bar, because cholera is so common over there.

But there is no specific epidemic. So not to worry.

Answer 2

i hope so....but most of the water they drink already is bottled, and hopefully they know to stay away from public water sources

Answer 3

Our troops have their own water so dont worry