Science / Medicine : Record Year for Cholera Cases

Last year was the worst on record for the disease cholera, with more than half a million new cases reported, the vast majority in Latin America, the World Health Organization said.

The figure, which includes almost 300,000 cases from a sudden epidemic in Peru, compares with a previous high of about 180,000 cases reported to the health organization in 1971.

Cholera struck Latin America for the first time this century in January and ended up affecting almost 360,000 people in 13 countries across the continent, the organization said.

Africa, with about 135,000 cases, suffered the highest mortality rate. Africans accounted for almost three-quarters of 16,700 reported cholera deaths. Medical experts say cholera thrives in areas where water supplies and sewage disposal are poorest.