Cholera Deaths Soar Worldwide Despite Being Easily Preventable

The cholera outbreaks spreading across the globe are becoming more deadly. Deaths from the diarrheal disease soared last year, far outpacing the increase in cases, according to a new analysis by the World Health Organization.

Cholera is easy to prevent and costs just pennies to treat, but huge outbreaks have swamped even well-prepared health systems in countries that had not confronted the disease in years. The number of cholera deaths reported globally last year increased by 71 percent from deaths in 2022, while the number of reported cases rose 13 percent. Much of the increase was driven by conflict and climate change, the W.H.O. report said.

“For death rates to be rising so much faster even than cases are increasing, this is totally unacceptable,” said Philippe Barboza, who leads the cholera team in the health emergencies program of the W.H.O. “It reflects the world’s lack of interest in a disease that has plagued humans for thousands of years, afflicting the poorest people who cannot find clean water to drink,” he said.

More than 4,000 people were officially reported to have died from cholera in 2023, but the true number is probably far higher, Dr. Barboza said. The W.H.O.’s efforts to model the actual number of cholera deaths, using data gathered from testing programs, found that the total death count for 2023 could be more than 100,000.

Cholera can cause death by dehydration in as little as a single day, as the body tries to expel virulent bacteria in streams of vomit and watery diarrhea.

“How can we accept that in 2024 that people are dying because they don’t have access to a simple bag of oral rehydration salts that cost 50 cents?” Dr. Barboza said. “It’s not because they don’t have an I.C.U. — it’s just IV fluid and antibiotics that they need.”