What disease is cholera? Why is it classified as a Class A infectious disease?

Cholera is a severe infectious disease, which spreads quickly, has a wide range and is very harmful. Cholera is an acute diarrheal infectious disease, which is caused by food or water contaminated by Vibrio cholerae. It is characterized by acute onset and rapid spread. Cholera is classified as a Class A infectious disease in China.

Cholera is recognized as a Class A infectious disease for two reasons. Cholera is highly contagious through water pollution. If the public water source is polluted, a large-scale epidemic will occur; The second reason is that cholera has a certain mortality rate. People infected with cholera usually have no symptoms, and a few infected people will have diarrhea, vomiting and even leg cramps. A large amount of diarrhea will cause severe dehydration, leading to a large loss of electrolytes. Therefore, severe patients may be dehydrated and die within a few hours. Cholera is highly concerned by people because of its strong infectivity, resulting in a certain mortality rate, so cholera is classified as a class A infectious disease in China.

Because cholera is mainly caused by water pollution, it often appears in flooded areas or economically underdeveloped areas. Now with the improvement of people's health awareness, this phenomenon is rare in China. Another way is through contaminated food. Only one case of cholera was found in Wuhan University this time, which is not enough to explain the problem. It may be caused by food pollution. Although cholera can cause a certain death rate, as long as it is found early and treated early, it can prevent death in Europe.

Although cholera is far away from us, it is worldwide. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, about 6.5438+0.3 million to 4 million people are infected with cholera every year in the world, and more than 20,000 to 6.5438+0.4 million people die of cholera. There are also some sporadic cases in economically underdeveloped areas such as Pakistan and Africa. The root cause of cholera's long-term epidemic in Africa is the inability to provide drinking water that meets hygienic standards. Therefore, China sends peacekeepers to Africa every year to help them develop their economies, improve their medical standards and contribute to the health and safety of the world.