Cholera Outbreak in Congo Refugee Camp Feared to be Epidemic

by Barbara McPherson | November 14, 2008 at 10:41 am

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Cholera has surfaced in the refugee camps forming in the eastern Congo. The conditions in the camps are perfect for the spread of cholera. Cholera is a disease caused by a bacterium and it can be spread in uncooked or undercooked shellfish, contaminated water, contact with infected sewage. Some people will experience only mild symptoms but others may die within hours.

KIBATI, Congo — A cholera outbreak in a sprawling refugee camp has spread to eastern Congo's provincial capital of Goma, increasing fears of an epidemic amid a tense standoff between troops and rebels, officials said.

But dozens of people have died of cholera in recent weeks elsewhere in eastern Congo. Doctors also fear an epidemic behind rebel lines, where access has been limited by fighting and rebels have driven tens of thousands of people from camps where outbreaks had been contained.

Thousands of refugees are packed into camps or sleeping out in the open, scrambling for washing and cooking water. Some 50,000 refugees have crowded around Kibati, some taken into log cabins by villagers, others living in tents or hastily built huts.

Weekend clashes between rebels and soldiers ignited concern that patients could scatter and launch an epidemic. But it appears unlikely that a European Union force will come to help stem the fighting. France failed to secure support Monday from other European Union nations for sending a 1,500-strong EU battlegroup to eastern Congo to bolster U.N. peacekeepers.