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Cholera outbreak unlikely to affect Baghdad

BAGHDAD — An outbreak of cholera in the northern province of Sulaimaniyah appears not to been caused by contaminated water and is unlikely to spread to Baghdad, the military said Sunday.

There have been 70 confirmed cases of the disease and more than 4,000 reports of people suffering from symptoms like severe diarrhea and vomiting, said Col. Glynda Lucas, chief of the military’s clinical operations in Iraq.

“This appears to be an outbreak — it is not an epidemic,” Lucas said in a statement. “It is typical for these areas in Iraq to have cholera at this time of year.”

Sherko Abdullah, the head of the regional health ministry department in Sulaimaniyah, said that a ninth person had died from the disease on Friday.

The Iraqi government has taken steps to contain the disease and prevent it from spreading to other areas, she said.

Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease that is typically spread by drinking contaminated water and can cause severe diarrhea. In extreme cases, that can cause fatal dehydration.

In this case, however, the area water does not seem to be contaminated, Lucas said.

“Initial reports from ... personnel on the ground indicate that most of the hospital patients in Sulaimaniyah do not have other people ill who are using the same water source — friends, families and neighbors,” she said. “The risk of cholera spreading to Baghdad is reasonably low.”