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WHO announced that the double amount of vaccines will automatically mean lower prices and more people being treated.
BEACON TRANSCRIPT – This year, the Organization for World Health (WHO) has announced that the cholera oral vaccine will be produced in double the amounts of last year. This comes as a good news for the poorer countries most affected by the disease.
Cholera is a disease that affects 1.4 million people per year. The number of deaths is equally big, 142,000 because the disease is often asymptomatic, only one in ten persons experiencing severe diarrhea, nausea, loss of limb control and other reported symptoms. This means that prevention is instrumental in the fight. This is where WHO steps in with news that cholera oral vaccine will be produced in double the amounts of last year.
The illness usually affects poor people from third world countries that do not have access to clean water. The main way in which the bacterium can be caught is consuming infested water or using it to wash hands or vegetables. The Cholerae Vibrio can also be found in unprocessed meats and on the skin of vegetables. The bacterium is transmitted via the infected person’s fecal matter or other bodily fluids.
In the press release in which WHO announced that cholera oral vaccine will be produced in double the amounts, the organization underlined the fact that these additional vaccines will be used as an attempt to fight the cycle of low production – high demand – big prices, transforming it in something much more beneficial for the infected people around the world, namely a cycle of increased production – increased demand – greater access and reduced price.
Unfortunately, cholera is not a front-page hitting disease unless there is some emergency of a humanitarian nature. The disease is highly ignored by vaccine developers because it is not a profitable one, the patients in need being too poor, or too poorly informed to fight for it.
If not prevented, or treated, cholera can kill a person in a matter of hours. Among the leading causes of death due to the infection with the cholera bacterium are severe dehydration and shock.
Experts advise people that are located in areas affected by the disease to drink only boiled or bottled water, eat only well-cooked hot meals and wash their hands before eating. The hands must be washed with water that is safe to use, or with special alcohol-based disinfectants.
Let us hope that the fact that WHO announced that cholera oral vaccine will be produced in double the amounts of last year will mean a significant step forward in the eradication of this disease.
Image source: www.guim.co.uk
