Control and prevention of cholera transmission in low resource clinical setting

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Cholera is a serious Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC). The recurrence of outbreaks depicts lack of appropriate control and prevention, thereby contributing to high morbidity, mortality and socioeconomic burden. The clinical setting, aside from treatment of the infected, plays a big role in the ultimate prevention and control of the disease.
AIM: This article highlights the necessary prevention and control practices in low-resource clinical settings.
METHODOLOGY: We extracted relevant articles from various databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar and African Journal Online(AJOL) and summarized them.
RESULT: Cholera caused by the organism, Vibrio cholera is of great global burden and majority of cases are in poor and low resource setting like Nigeria, where there are challenges with water supply and sanitation. The key preventative and control strategy in clinical setting include clinical and administrative policy toward cholera prevention and control, rapid case identification, compliance with Standard Precaution, adoption of Transmission Based Precautions for patient isolation, contact tracing and treatment, effective case referral system, cholera education and enlightenment of health workers and the community.
CONCLUSION: With the current wave of cholera in many countries, there is need for health practitioners to upgrade their skills in both clinical and infection prevention and control practices.

KEYWORDS: Cholera, Nigeria, Clinical setting, Infectious disease, infection control.