The Associate Dean for Scientific Affairs at the College of Medicine, Assistant Professor Dr. Ali Abdul-Ridha Abu Tahin, was a guest on the Al-Iraqi program broadcast by Al-Hurra Iraq satellite channel, along with Dr. Haitham Al-Obaidi, Director of the Health Promotion Department at the Ministry of Health, and Dr. Aso Hawizi, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health. Health in the Kurdistan Region, where the focus of the episode was on the spread of cholera in Iraq, after the governments of the Center and the Region announced urgent measures to confront the outbreak of cholera. What are the reasons for the high incidence of cholera?
For his part, Dr. Abu Taheen spoke about the spread of cholera, saying: “The cholera epidemic is not new in Iraq, as it appears from time to time, especially in the past few years. As for Karbala governorate, it has not registered an official case of infection compared to other governorates.” The northern and southern regions that have recorded many cases of this disease recently, meaning that all of Iraq is in a state of alert, follow-up and investigation of this disease, not only Iraq, and it may also reach neighboring countries.
He added, “The prominent signs of the disease are severe diarrhea, persistent vomiting, and the type of diarrhea similar to the Iraqi description with “rice water”, especially in children and the elderly, in addition to cases of rapid dehydration.” Urgent action to take the necessary measures,” stressing that “the treatment of cholera is not difficult or complicated and has available treatments, but the important thing is to replace fluids quickly.”
With regard to the level of medical awareness of such diseases, Abu Tahine said, “After the Corona pandemic, the issue of health awareness was focused on by the media, but we need to enhance the level of awareness among different segments of society, especially the poor from remote areas, slums and kindergartens. and internal departments, in addition to camps for the displaced, camps and even prisons, in addition to restaurants and street vendors being sources that contribute to the transmission of disease, so it needs the responsible authorities to monitor and follow up on such sources. Health institutions, as awareness is the basis for limiting the spread of this epidemic through the media, religious institutions and education, so each party in society must fulfill its responsibility towards any possible epidemic.”
Warning that “the spread of this disease in the northern governorates may spread to the central and southern governorates and may be more dangerous, especially since the infrastructure of these governorates suffers from weakness in terms of addressing such a dangerous and accelerating spread, so the issue of awareness is a decisive factor in limiting The spread of this deadly disease, as well as adherence to preventive measures such as personal hygiene, cleanliness of drinking and food, and staying away from foods from street vendors and some restaurants, and most importantly, concerted efforts to control the spread of this dangerous disease.
