Cholera epidemic in Yemen, 2016–18: an analysis of surveillance data

Publication date: June 2018Source: The Lancet Global Health, Volume 6, Issue 6Author(s): Anton Camacho, Malika Bouhenia, Reema Alyusfi, Abdulhakeem Alkohlani, Munna Abdulla Mohammed Naji, Xavier de Radiguès, Abdinasir M Abubakar, Abdulkareem Almoalmi, Caroline Seguin, Maria Jose Sagrado, Marc Poncin, Melissa McRae, Mohammed Musoke, Ankur Rakesh, Klaudia Porten, Christopher Haskew, Katherine E Atkins, Rosalind M Eggo, Andrew S Azman, Marije BroekhuijsenSummaryBackgroundIn war-torn Yemen, reports of confirmed cholera started in late September, 2016. The disease continues to plague Yemen today in what has become the largest documented cholera epidemic of modern times. We aimed to describe the key epidemiological features of this epidemic, including the drivers of cholera transmission during the outbreak.MethodsThe Yemen Health Authorities set up a national cholera surveillance system to collect information on suspected cholera cases presenting at health facilities. Individual variables included symptom onset date, age, severity of dehydration, and rapid diagnostic test result. Suspected cholera cases were confirmed by culture, and a subset of samples had additional phenotypic and genotypic analysis. We first conducted descriptive analyses at national and governorate levels. We divided the epidemic into three time periods: the first wave (Sept 28, 2016, to April 23, 2017), the increasing phase of the second wave (April 24, 2017, to July 2, 2017), and the decreasing phase of the ...
Source: The Lancet Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research