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Cholera

Cholera is an acute infectious disease caused by ingesting a bacterium found in water and food contaminated by faeces. It affects the intestinal tract causing severe diarrhoea.

Person to person transmission is rare.

Travellers who observe food safety recommndations while in countries reporting cholera are at virtually no risk. Risk increases when drinking untreated water or eating poorly cooked or raw seafood in disease endemic areas.

The oral cholera vaccine significantly protects against cholera and is well tolerated.