The Ministry of Health affirmed its full commitment to the preventive measures aimed at confronting cholera, and to deal with any infected case, whether it’s coming from Lebanon or other countries. The Director of the Department of Infection Prevention and Sterilization at the MOH, Dr. Ahmed Al-Mutawa, said that Kuwait has an infrastructure of water and sewage networks that operate with high efficiency to prevent the outbreak of the disease in the country.
Al-Mutawa explained that a person can get infected with the disease by consuming contaminated foods or liquids, while guaranteeing that the country is devoid of such contamination due to the efforts of the health control, as well as its continuous follow-up and adequate public health awareness.
He added that the chances of transmission of cholera infection to the country are very small, unlike transmission of airborne viruses, such as seasonal diseases during winter. The official added that cholera is a bacterial disease that usually spreads through contaminated water or food and causes diarrhea, severe dehydration, nausea and fatigue. He indicated that if not treated, infection can be fatal.
Moreover, Al-Mutawa said that besides drinking contaminated water and eating food contaminated with cholera bacteria, the disease can also be transmitted when eating undercooked food, raw vegetables and fruits, as well as eating foods contaminated with bacteria during the process of food preparation and storage done by a person infected with the disease, whose symptoms often appear within five days of infection.