No sanitary
Cholera does not spread in countries where water treatment facilities are operating normally, but Lebanon suffers from countless problems, and sewage networks are one of them, as there are sewage networks in the main cities, but they return to the sea without passing through treatment plants. In the villages, waste water is drained into rivers in the first place, and “sanitary drains” in the second place, which are pits in the ground in which sewage is collected from homes to return and later seep into the ground towards the reservoirs of water collection in Al-Jawf (groundwater and wells), or to riverbeds. Accordingly, no real refining process kills the harmful bacteria released by our bodies, before the water is reused for service or even for drinking.
In addition to the above, there are refugee camps, and the sewage water in them is directed mostly to riverbeds, which further deteriorates the condition of surface water. This pollution will not be removed by natural factors such as sun or plants, but will increase more, especially if rivers turn into closed collection places such as ponds. So, a significant proportion of the Lebanese people use water contaminated with “human faeces”, and this has been proven by separate studies of several parties, including the Ministry of Health and the Lebanese University.
The risk of cholera bacteria in the water will also increase if the rainy season is delayed. The more scarce the water, the higher the concentration of bacteria in it. Therefore, it can be said that a good rainy season will lead to a decrease in risks, at least until the beginning of next summer, but it is too early to say this today, at the beginning of the autumn season.
kill cholera
Dealing with water transported in tanks from ponds and rivers must be on the basis of “everyone is suspect”, and therefore there is no room for confidence that the water is clean and free of bacteria, especially cholera. The latter will be present in the stool of the infected person for “ten days at the latest, even if he does not show symptoms of severe diarrhea.” In our case, with no real sewage systems, we treat every quantity of water as contaminated and we must sterilize it. According to Professor of Microbiology at the Faculty of Science, Mohamed Ezz El-Din, “This process is very easy, and it only requires the use of cleaning materials found in all homes, and by it we mean chlorine, with its various commercial names.”
Sterilization is necessary, and it is necessary to stay away from eating raw meat, especially fish
“Cholera bacteria, despite their danger to health, are easy to get rid of in limited quantities of water,” Ezz El-Din added, explaining the process as follows: “Each liter of water for sterilization requires only two drops of household chlorine.” A tank capacity of two thousand liters, or what is known as “ten barrels”, needs “15 milliliters” or “3 spoons” by household standards. Then this amount of water is left for 15 minutes before using it for service or even for drinking, and here experts warn once morest excessive use of “chlorine” in large quantities, as it may cause reactions and allergies in some. Ezz El-Din advises to “use the chlorine found in pharmacies because it has the least effect on household purposes and health.”
food sterilization
The danger of cholera lies not only in water. In Lebanon, these bacteria can travel hundreds of kilometers to spread the infection in places far from the first points of spread, by transporting fruits and vegetables irrigated with contaminated water from one area to another. However, “there is no need to panic”, as bacteria will not settle in the heart of agricultural products, but will be found on surfaces and outside, specifically in the water droplets remaining on them, which can be sterilized using the same solutions used to sterilize water, and in the same quantities.
As for what is completely forbidden to eat today, it is raw meat in general, and fish in particular. In Lebanon, there are salmon farms that some have used to eat raw, and they carry cholera bacteria inside their meat and can only be disposed of by cooking and high heat.
