CHOLERA KILLS 1,555 IN NIGERIA, SAYS U.N.

CHOLERA OUTBREAK HITS
NIGERIA HARD THIS YEAR

NIGERIA (CNN) - A cholera outbreak in Nigeria has killed more than 1,500 people, the United Nations said Tuesday. It is the worst cholera outbreak in Nigeria in recent years. The number of cases is three times higher than last year and seven times higher than in 2008, the United Nations Children’s Fund said. The outbreak has led to 40,000 cases in Nigeria and resulted in 1,555 deaths, UNICEF said. Women and children account for four of every five cases, the agency said. The disease’s spread seems to have been largely contained in Nigeria, where new cases are still being reported in parts of the country, particularly the northeast, the United Nations said. Cholera is caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine and, in severe cases, is characterized by diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps, according to the CDC. In such cases, rapid loss of body fluids can lead to dehydration and shock. “Without treatment, death can occur within hours,” the agency has said. A person can get cholera by drinking water or eating food contaminated with the bacteria. The disease kills about 120,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organization.

During epidemics, the source of the contamination is often the feces of an infected person, and infections can spread rapidly in areas where there is poor sewage treatment and a lack of clean drinking water.

Two-thirds of rural Nigerians lack access to safe drinking water, and fewer than 40 percent of people in affected areas have access “to toilet facilities of any description,” the Nigerian Health Ministry said in August.


Cholera is an infectious disease of rapid development that causes diarrhea, leading to severe dehydration and possibly death if not treated quickly. However, the disease is easily preventable with clean water and sanitation, but in places like West Africa, water sanitation and hygiene are virtually nonexistent in those crowded slums in cities and rural villages. There are many diseases that primarily affect the poorest people on the planet. We should understand that the era of Kali is felt everywhere and try to bring some relief, both material and spiritual to those so impoverished countries.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

In Kali-yuga, people are almost exclusively devoted to gross materialism, with hardly any affinity for self-realization.

“When greed, dissatisfaction, false pride, hypocrisy and envy become prominent, along with attraction for selfish activities, such a time is the age of Dvāpara, dominated by the mixed modes of passion and ignorance. When there is a predominance of cheating, lying, sloth, sleepiness, violence, depression, lamentation, bewilderment, fear and poverty, that age is Kali, the age of the mode of ignorance. Because of the bad qualities of the age of Kali, human beings will become shortsighted, unfortunate, gluttonous, lustful and poverty-stricken.”

Symptoms of this yuga are already manifest throughout the world.

Purports to the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam,
Canto 12: “The Age of Deterioration.”
Chapter 3: “The Bhūmi-gītā.” - Texts: 29, 30, 31.
by the humble servants of HDG A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gainesville, Florida, USA - July, 1982.
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase - http://srimadbhagavatam.com/sb/12/en