Cholera: recognising illness and replacing lost fluids

It spreads when food or water is contaminated with the stool of an infected person. Replacing water and body salts promptly is the central treatment, while severe dehydration needs urgent care in a health facility.

The bacterium acts in the intestine and can trigger large fluid losses through frequent watery stools, sometimes with vomiting or leg cramps. The main danger is not the bowel movement itself but the rapid loss of water and electrolytes needed for circulation, muscle function, and alertness.

A clinician considers the stool pattern, travel or outbreak exposure, drinking-water and food history, and signs of dehydration. Testing may confirm the infection, but rehydration should not be delayed when the clinical concern is strong.

Start a properly prepared oral rehydration solution and seek medical assessment without delay if cholera is suspected. Mix a commercial sachet exactly as its packet directs, using safe water; an overly concentrated or diluted mixture has the wrong balance of salts and glucose. Offer frequent small sips if nausea makes drinking difficult. Continue breastfeeding an infant.

Use safe water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning utensils. Wash hands carefully with soap after using the toilet or helping an ill person and before handling food. A clinician may prescribe antibiotics for selected severe cases; do not self-start leftover antibiotics.

Treat suspected cholera as urgent, particularly when diarrhoea is profuse. Go to emergency care for inability to drink, repeated vomiting, extreme thirst, very little urine, sunken eyes, a very dry mouth, weakness, confusion, unusual sleepiness, fainting, cold skin, or a weak rapid pulse.

Keep giving oral rehydration solution during the journey if the person is awake and can swallow safely. Severe dehydration may require intravenous fluids and close monitoring rather than home treatment alone.

Tell the team when diarrhoea began, how often it is occurring, whether vomiting is preventing fluids, recent travel, and any known outbreak or unsafe-water exposure. Ask how much oral rehydration to continue, whether testing or antibiotics are appropriate, and how household members should reduce transmission.