What is it?
Cholera is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium. This bacterium is found in (brackish) surface water. The disease occurs on every continent. Epidemics are particularly common in less developed countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the Netherlands cholera has essentially become an imported disease and is rarely seen. Cholera can be fatal within a day.
Symptoms may include:
- sudden onset of vomiting
- (severe) watery diarrhoea
- nagging abdominal pain and tenderness
- signs of dehydration
- fever (rarely)
How do you catch it?
People with reduced stomach acid production are at greater risk of infection. The bacterium that causes cholera is found in (brackish) surface water. You can pick up the bacterium by ingesting contaminated water or contaminated food. The faeces of cholera patients can also be infectious.
The incubation period lasts from 12 hours to 5 days, on average 2 to 3 days.
How do you prevent it?
You can prevent infection with the bacterium that causes cholera by taking hygiene measures, particularly with regard to hands, water and food.
In principle, cholera vaccination is no longer carried out in the Netherlands. The available vaccine offers only short-lived and limited protection. The cholera vaccine does provide a degree of protection against traveller's diarrhoea caused by E. coli bacteria in people with low resistance (for example those with diabetes, the elderly and people taking immunosuppressants or prednisone) and when travelling around countries with poor sanitary facilities. The vaccine consists of two sachets of powder which you take one week apart, the second sachet no later than ten days before departure.
In addition to the conditions at your destination, your personal situation and travel plans are variables that have a decisive influence on the preparations you may wish, or be required, to make before you travel. At Amsterdam Travel Clinic you can obtain expert travel medicine advice and the vaccination mentioned above. In some cases, even if you have not been vaccinated, a stamp can be placed in your vaccination booklet to prevent problems at border crossings. The stamp is valid indefinitely.
The above description is only a general, brief and simplified account and is provided for information purposes only. No rights may be derived from it. Personal advice is provided solely during a consultation with the specially trained Certified Travel Medicine Physician or Travel Medicine Assistant.