Health Ministry says cholera cases reach 481

Health-Cholera BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The number of confirmed cholera cases in Iraq has reached 481 thus far, the Iraqi Ministry of Health said on Thursday. “The number of positive cases rose to 481 after registering two new cases in Baghdad,” an official spokesperson for the ministry’s operations room, Ihsan Jaafar, told IraqiNews.com. The number of dead remains eight since the outbreak of the disease three months ago. The Ministry had said Wednesday that the cases rose to 479 after registering two cases for the first time in Arbil, northern Iraq, and Samawa, southern Iraq. Cholera is a gastrointestinal disease that can be spread by a lack of clean drinking water. The problem has worsened by the poor state of Iraq’s infrastructure after years of neglect and war. SH (P)/SR 1