Open Outbreak

Should I be worried about Cholera?

Updated · Graded from official assessments; nothing here is medical advice.

Cholera · Attention: high

If you are in the affected area high
WHO said in its 29 August 2025 multi-country cholera update that outbreaks were continuing to escalate across multiple countries and assessed the risk in affected countries as high. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the same country or region high
WHO's 29 August 2025 multi-country update assessed the risk in affected countries as high. That is the latest official assessment available here for people elsewhere in the same country or region. According to WHO
If you are travelling there soon high
WHO's 29 August 2025 multi-country update assessed the risk for travellers as high as outbreaks continued across multiple countries. According to WHO
If you are elsewhere in the world high
WHO's 29 August 2025 multi-country update assessed the risk elsewhere as high. In an earlier global situation notice published on 16 December 2022, WHO also said it had assessed global cholera risk as very high on 26 October 2022. According to WHO

What is happening

Cholera is still being reported across multiple countries, so this is a continuing worldwide situation rather than one local outbreak. The latest official WHO global update available here was published on 29 August 2025 and said the situation was continuing to deteriorate, with 409,222 cholera or acute watery diarrhoea cases and 4,738 deaths from 31 countries reported between 1 January 2025 and 17 August 2025. Media and field reports in late September and October 2026 then described fresh activity in Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia, while a WHO regional story cited here said Angola had exceeded 43,000 cases and 1,000 deaths by late September 2026. Another late-September media report, citing WHO, said there had been 451,499 cases and 7,870 deaths worldwide, unverified, but no matching up-to-date WHO Disease Outbreak News item was available here. Officials and response teams are using case detection and treatment, rapid response teams, community engagement, water, sanitation and hygiene measures, outbreak declarations, and oral cholera vaccination where available.

Who is affected and how it spreads

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by certain strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, mainly O1 and O139. You usually get it by swallowing water or food contaminated with human waste containing the bacteria, so risk rises where clean water, sanitation, hygiene and safe food handling are poor, especially during displacement, conflict or flooding. Many infections are mild or have no symptoms, but severe cases can cause sudden watery diarrhoea, vomiting, rapid dehydration, shock and death within hours if treatment is delayed. Oral cholera vaccines exist and are used to help control outbreaks, but they do not replace safe water, sanitation, hygiene and rapid treatment.

What we are watching

Updates

Sources