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Cholera spreads in Syria as displacement camps on high alert

Fears of a cholera outbreak in Syria are growing after authorities revealed that part of the Euphrates River has been contaminated.

A woman suffering from cholera receives treatment at the Al-Kasrah hospital in Syria.
A woman suffering from cholera receives treatment at the Al-Kasrah hospital in Syria's eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, on Sept. 17, 2022, affected by the usage of contaminated water from the Euphrates River, a major source for both drinking and irrigation. — DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

As cholera spreads in northeastern Syria, concerns are mounting about an outbreak of the disease in other parts of the country, including in the northwest where displacement camps that lack any basic infrastructure could serve as a hotbed for the infectious disease. 

According to data by the Early Warning Alert and Response Network (EWARN), a health information system for monitoring epidemiological diseases in the Syrian opposition-held areas, the number of suspected cholera cases in northeastern Syria has reached 8,228 as of Oct. 4 since the outbreak began in the area on Aug. 10. 

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