Cholera cases rising in Karachi as 26 cases confirmed

Following the rise in temperature, cholera cases are being detected in Karachi where at least 26 lab-confirmed cases have been reported by a leading private sector health facility to the Sindh health department, officials said on Wednesday.

“Cases of acute watery diarrhoea are constantly on the rise in Karachi. When we sent some of the samples to the lab of a private hospital on Stadium Road in Karachi, they confirmed at least 26 cases of cholera. Most of the cholera cases were reported in the month of March 2024,” an official in the Director Health Karachi’s office told The News.

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, says the World Health Organisation (WHO) which has termed cholera a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development.

The health department official, who requested anonymity, claimed that as per an unstated policy, they were not supposed to confirm cholera outbreak in Karachi or any other part of Sindh.

“We normally use the term acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) for cholera in Pakistan even if labs confirm that a person or persons in a particular area are infected with Vibrio cholerae. So far, we have seen 26 cholera cases in Karachi, but officially we have not yet conveyed it either to the federal health authorities or the World Health Organisation,” said the official.

He stated that a total of 110,309 suspected cholera cases were reported across Pakistan from June 2022 to June 2023, which included 1,069 lab-confirmed cases. There was a significant cholera outbreak in 2022 with Sindh being the most affected province, he added.

Officials at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, also confirmed to The News that their lab had detected cholera cases, which were being reported to the Sindh health department. They added that due to restrictions imposed on them by the Sindh health department, they could not share the actual data with the media.

Officials at the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad said they were also aware of the cholera outbreak in Karachi but deplored that the Sindh health department had not shared the details of lab-confirmed cholera cases with the NIH.

“Cholera outbreak is a public health emergency, and an immediate response is required to contain it as per International Health Regulations (IHR). World Health Organisation (WHO) officials in Pakistan and NIH are aware of the situation and awaiting confirmation from the Sindh health department so that technical support could be provided to them for taking containment measures,” an NIH official stated.

Officials of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) have also confirmed that their lab had detected Vibrio cholerae in clean water samples from different areas of the city, which shows sewage is getting mixed with clean drinking water.

According to the weekly IDSR report issued by the NIH Islamabad, over 123,239 cases of acute watery diarrhoea were reported in the 10th week of 2024, of which 67,969 cases were reported from Punjab, followed by 34,860 from Sindh, 12,879 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,659 from Balochistan, 1,261 from Azad Jammu Kashmir, 325 from Gilgit Baltistan, and 286 from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Of them, 316 were suspected cases of cholera that were reported from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Punjab, ICT, and other territories did not share their data.