Cholera outbreaks in Africa

The World Health Organization has issued updates on active cholera outbreaks in seven African countries, as reported by 16 January 2021.

Cholera outbreaks have been reported in Benin (1,281 cases with 20 deaths), Cameroon (617 cases with 21 deaths), Democratic Republic of the Congo (10,029 cases with 179 deaths), Ethiopia (582 cases with 7 deaths), Niger (5,591 cases with 166 deaths), Nigeria (107,911 cases with 3,598 deaths) and Togo (39 cases with 5 deaths).

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of faecally contaminated food or water, and occasionally foodstuffs such as shellfish.

Advice for Travellers

Severe cholera is rare in travellers. Mild cases may present as travellers' diarrhoea.

All travellers should be given advice on:

• maintaining safe food and water precautions
• effective hand hygiene
• basic steps in self-treating diarrhoea, particularly remaining adequately hydrated

Vaccination against cholera is dependent on the individual risk assessment, but may be considered for:

• volunteers/humanitarian workers/medical personnel travelling to disaster relief situations where cholera outbreaks are likely
• travellers with remote itineraries in areas where cholera outbreaks are occurring and there is limited access to medical care

For further information see the TRAVAX Cholera page.