Health chiefs tell of cholera fears

May 8 2003

By Evening Gazette

The World Health Organisation warned today of the danger of an outbreak of cholera in southern Iraq, due to the lack of clean drinking water following the war. Some 17 cases of the potentially fatal disease have been identified in Basra, which is controlled by the British military, but WHO experts believe there are already at least ten times that number of victims. Iraqis unable to access clean water have been drinking filthy supplies contaminated with the bug, said spokesman Ian Simpson.