Cholera: Keeping the Water You Drink From Turning Against You

 

What is Cholera?

• Cholera is a disease caused by a special kind of bacterium that can live in dirty water.
• When a person drinks this contaminated water, the bacterium gets into their body and can cause severe diarrhea.
• Diarrhoea is when a person losses a lot of water in the form of watery faeces from his anus.
• In extreme cases diarrhoea can cause a large amount of water and ions to be lost.
• One of the causes of diarrhoea is an infection of Vibrio cholerae bacteria. This causes cholera

In simpler words: Think of cholera like a nasty trickster that sneaks into your body through unsafe water, making your stomach very upset.

 

How Do People Get Cholera?

Source	How It Happens
Contaminated Water	Drinking water with the cholera bacterium
Contaminated Food	Eating food washed or cooked in dirty water

Key Point: Cholera loves places where the water isn’t clean.

 

Symptoms of Cholera

• Very watery diarrhea (lots of watery poop)
• Feeling very weak and tired
• Stomach cramps and feeling sick (nausea)

Imagine: If your body was a water balloon, cholera pokes holes in it, letting the water leak out too fast.

 

Preventing Cholera

• Use Clean Water:
  Boil or filter your water before drinking it.

• Good Hygiene:
  Wash your hands with soap, especially before eating and after using the toilet.

• Safe Food Preparation:
  Make sure your food is cooked well and avoid raw, unwashed foods.