These people do NOT get a break.
Perhaps it's not important, I suppose, but it seems significant, since I do 'sort of' care about people: Iraq confirms cholera outbreak south of Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Cholera has broken out in a province south of Baghdad and at least 20 cases of the waterborne disease have been confirmed there, a Health Ministry official said Monday.
However, local authorities in Babil province insist the real figure is much higher and have complained that the government in Baghdad has been slow in responding to the outbreak.
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Cholera is endemic in Iraq, which lacks facilities to supply clean drinking water, especially in the countryside. Last year, a cholera outbreak in northern Iraq killed 14 people.
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.
Outbreak reports are probably to be miminized officially managed because cholera is... unpopular.
Perhaps all the open sewage is related to it? All the open sewage is related to the failure to rebuild infrastructure - you know, stuff like sewers and waste-water treatment plants our troops bombed when they were ordered to attack Iraq to help the iraqis.
More from Reuters
Cholera has killed eight people and infected 20 others in the past three days in Babil, south of Baghdad, officials said at a news conference. Ihsan Jaafar, general director of public health at the Health Ministry in Baghdad, said only two fatalities had been confirmed.
Some 500 other people in the province were suspected to have contracted the disease, which can sometimes kill victims with sudden severe diarrhoea, the local officials said.
"Official Reports" (from MOST governments), of course, are usually very incorrect and misleading because Official Reality pisses people off, so they have to be lied to in order to keep them placated. The government in Iraq has no credibility, neither does the US administration, which probably couldn't tell the truth if it actually knew it.
Serious fatal diseases like cholera and "sudden severe diarrhea" (um...same effect as cholera but without the scary word) come from open sewage which contaminate the drinking water they don't have in abundant supply there.
Wonder why they can't fix the sewers.....certainly the US wants the sewers fixed....right?
It's not exactly rocket science. Halliburton can do it, right?
Allegedly, we went there to "help the Iraqis", right?
Given that they have had a couple years to fix them, I think it's fair to insinuate they don't want to fix them; that for some reason beyond my grasp, they want them broken like this.
I can't imagine why, but that's just my 2 cents.