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عربي

Iraq says 2 orphan boys die of cholera
 30/11/2007

By SAMEER N. YACOUB Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 15/11/2007
Mercury news

BAGHDAD—Two boys have died from cholera in the same Baghdad orphanage where malnourished children were found tied to their beds last summer, the Health Ministry said Thursday.
One died Thursday, and the other died Wednesday, said Adel Muhsin, the Health Ministry's inspector-general. Six other children at the orphanage have been diagnosed with cholera, he said.
The al-Hanan orphanage became infamous in June, when U.S. and Iraqi soldiers found 24 severely malnourished boys there in a dark room, some tied to beds and too weak to stand once they were unbound. Afterward, Iraqi officials said the boys were transferred to a different building where they were receiving proper care.
Muhsin blamed this week's cholera deaths on dirty water stored in a tank on the roof.
"The people in the orphanage did not clean the water tank, and they kept filling it with water while neglecting our health experts' recommendations," Muhsin told The Associated Press. "The percentage of the chlorine in the tank was zero when we inspected it."
Arrest warrants were issued in June for three employees of the orphanage, but they have gone into hiding.
The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 3,300 cholera cases in Iraq and at least 14 deaths from the acute and rapid dehydration it causes.
The outbreak, which was first detected Aug. 14 in Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, has now spread to half of the country's 18 provinces.
Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease typically spread by drinking contaminated water. It can cause severe diarrhea that, in extreme cases, can lead to fatal dehydration. It is preventable by treating drinking water with chlorine and improving hygiene conditions.
More than 30,000 people in Iraq have had cases of acute diarrhea that are sometimes later confirmed as cholera, according to WHO estimates. Hardest-hit are the northern Iraq provinces of Kirkuk, with 2,309 such cases, and Sulaimaniyah with 870.