WHO sees rise in reported cholera cases

Brooke Lewis and Mom Kunthear

Phnom Penh Post

THE number of reported cholera cases has increased by 95 in the last two weeks, a World Health Organisation representative said Monday, though a Health Ministry official described all cases reported since November as “suspected”.

The 95 newly confirmed cholera cases bring the total number since the outbreak began in November to 223, said Dr Nima Asgari, public health specialist at the WHO. He added that the uptick in confirmed cases did not necessarily mean that the disease was spreading more quickly.

“It’s very difficult to say – there has been an increase in reported numbers, but there has also been an increase in testing, so it’s hard to say if there has been a rise in the number of actual cholera cases,” he said.

The Health Ministry and the WHO announced at a joint press conference on February 12 that 128 cholera cases had been confirmed since November. That announcement followed criticism from doctors at a paediatric hospital in Phnom Penh who accused the government of downplaying the threat of cholera and failing to inform the public about the disease.

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