What should you know about cholera transmission person to person?

The bacteria leave the body in stool and can reach another person through unwashed hands, unsafe sanitation, contaminated water, or food handled after toileting. People can also be exposed while cleaning vomit or diarrhoea. Someone who has been exposed may develop watery diarrhoea and vomiting, but symptoms are not a reliable way to identify who is infectious. A suspected case should be assessed by a healthcare professional.

Wash hands with soap and water after using the toilet, after cleaning a sick person, and before eating or preparing food. Use safe water for drinking, brushing teeth, cooking, and making oral rehydration solution. Clean soiled surfaces and launder contaminated clothing carefully. Do not share food prepared by someone who is ill. Start oral rehydration for watery diarrhoea and arrange medical advice; IV fluid therapy may be required if dehydration is severe.

Seek urgent care for inability to drink, repeated vomiting, faintness, confusion, very little urine, severe weakness, or continuing large-volume watery stools. A child or older adult with diarrhoea needs especially close observation. Tell the clinician about household illness, recent travel, sanitation concerns, and the timing of symptoms so contacts can receive practical advice.

Ask how long household precautions should continue, how to clean a bathroom safely, whether close contacts need assessment, and how to prepare oral rehydration solution correctly. Ask which symptoms mean the person should be transferred to urgent care.