Infections · 4 min read · Updated October 2026
Cholera: protecting your family during an outbreak
Cholera can kill within hours through dehydration, but it is easy to prevent and simple to treat if you act immediately. Here is what to do when there is an outbreak near you.
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Cholera is caused by bacteria swallowed in water or food contaminated with faeces. Outbreaks follow floods, broken water supplies and crowded settlements, and several African countries have outbreaks every year. The disease causes sudden, profuse, watery diarrhoea (often described as looking like rice water) and vomiting, with little or no fever. A person can lose litres of fluid in hours.
Treat immediately, do not wait
Dehydration is what kills. Start oral rehydration solution (ORS) at the very first watery stool: a cup after every stool for adults, half a cup for small children, in frequent sips. Keep breastfeeding infants. If there is no ORS sachet, mix six level teaspoons of sugar and half a level teaspoon of salt in one litre of safe water. Then get to a cholera treatment centre or clinic the same day: severe cases need fluid through a drip and antibiotics shorten the illness.
Signs of severe dehydration
Go to a treatment centre or hospital now if the person is very thirsty but cannot keep fluids down, has sunken eyes, a dry mouth and tongue, skin that stays pinched up when released, is very weak, drowsy or confused, has not passed urine for 6 hours, or if a child is floppy or cannot drink. Cholera is a reportable disease; the clinic will inform the health authorities so the outbreak can be stopped.
Safe water
Drink only water that has been boiled (a rolling boil for one minute), treated with chlorine tablets or a capful of household bleach per 20 litres (wait 30 minutes), or bottled from a sealed container. Store treated water in a covered container with a tap or a narrow neck and pour it out; do not dip cups into it. Use safe water for brushing teeth, washing fruit and making ice.
Safe food and hands
Wash hands with soap or ash and water after the toilet, after cleaning a child, and before preparing or eating food. Cook food thoroughly and eat it hot; peel fruit yourself; avoid raw or undercooked seafood and food from vendors you cannot see cooking. Use a latrine or bury faeces far from water sources. Disinfect surfaces soiled by a sick person with chlorine solution, and wash their clothing and bedding separately with soap, then dry in the sun.
Vaccine
Oral cholera vaccine is given in outbreak response campaigns and gives good protection for several years. If a campaign is announced in your area, take it; it is safe for adults and children over one year, including in pregnancy.
How Telafia can help
A doctor can tell you where the nearest treatment centre is, guide you on ORS amounts for a child's weight, and check that household members are protected. Do not wait for a video call if someone has signs of severe dehydration: go now.
Emergency numbers
767 works in Lagos State; 112 is the national number. Numbers change: please check locally. If a number does not connect, go straight to the nearest hospital.
Related doctors
Questions about this? A general practice doctor can help today.