Nothing said here has not been
said before, often at greater length
and depth.5 But the message bears
repeating, frequently and insistently.
Cholera, rightly feared for
both the terrifying loss of life it
can cause and for the panic it incites
in affected populations, is as
much a symptom as a disease. It
is a symptom of insufficient investment
by the global development
community in assuring access
to safe water and improved
sanitation — of providing only a
Band-Aid solution to a difficult
problem. Because fecal–oral transmission
is the predominant means
by which people contract cholera,
the frequency of cholera cases in
the 21st century reflects the indisputable
fact that the current
state of development leaves more
than a billion of the poorest and
most marginalized people at risk
of ingesting feces with their food
and water. As long as that is the
case, it is difficult to be satisfied
— notwithstanding the real successes
that have been achieved
— with the state of public health
in developing countries.
The views expressed in this article are
those of the authors and are not necessarily
those of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
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