Cholera mortality rate

The typical symptoms begin with the sudden onset of nausea and vomiting and profuse diarrhea without abdominal cramps. The stools produced are characteristically ricewater -like and contain mucus, epithelial cells, and ibrio cholerae bacteria. The dehydration resulting from rapid loss of fluid and electrolytes leads to circulatory collapse and kidney shutdown. Mortality rate without treatment can be as high as 50%.3... 

Cholera remains the one disease that consistently can cause dehydrating diarrhea in a healthy adult. The symptoms of cholera are caused by cholera toxin (CT), a protein enterotoxin that elicits profuse diarrhea [5, 6], Clinically, patients with the most severe form of the disease can pass in excess of 1 L of diarrheal stool per hour if fluid losses are not replaced by oral or intravenous fluids, this can result in severe dehydration, shock, and death in 12-24 h. With appropriate therapy, mortality rates for cholera should be less than 1%. However, in the absence of an adequate public health infrastructure to provide treatment, mortality rates may reach or exceed 40%. This is reflected in the 2005 World Health Organization s cholera-surveillance data (the most recent available) 131,942 cholera cases were reported in 52 countries, the majority of which had case-fatality rates below 1% rates in excess of 1% occurred almost exclusively in sub-Saharan Africa, with multiple countries in this region reporting rates in excess of 5% [7],... 

Category B agents are those agents that are more difficult to disseminate and/ or would result in moderate morbidity and low mortality rates. Current Category B ents include ricin, Q fever, staphylococcal enterotoxin B, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, cholera, and T2 mycotoxin. 

There have been multiple natural epidemics of cholera. Without treatment, the mortality rate approaches 50%. Although cholera is almost unknown in the United States, it continues to cause epidemics in developing countries. The agent has been investigated as a bioweapon, but effective use would require contaminating major drinking water supplies. 

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