A man receives treatment for cholera in Lebanon's northern Akkar governorate in October 2022. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Lebanon on Wednesday recorded no new cholera cases and no new deaths for the first time since the onset of the present outbreak, the Health Ministry said in its daily report.
The total number of confirmed cases and deaths now stands at 586 and 20, respectively. The cholera outbreak — the country's first since 1993 — began on Oct. 5 when the first case was identified in northern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, a Health Ministry spokesperson told L'Orient Today that 20,426 people were vaccinated against cholera on Wednesday, bringing to 332,662 the number of vaccinations against the disease administered since the beginning of a three-week campaign on Nov. 12.
On Friday, caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad said that the number of people vaccinated thus so far "is greater than the number that was supposed to be reached in this phase." The vaccination campaign aims to reach around 600,000 people in total.
Cholera is usually caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with the Vibrio cholerae bacteria, often present in feces. Infected people may suffer acute diarrhea, but the illness can also be asymptomatic.