Chief Sanitary Inspector Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski announced on Sunday that a case of cholera has been recorded involving a female patient. Local media had reported a day earlier about a case of cholera in Stargard.
On Saturday, the Stargard.News portal reported that “an elderly woman, who had been lying for several days in the internal medicine ward of the Independent Public Multispecialty Healthcare Facility, has cholera.”
In connection with the confirmed case of cholera, procedures have been initiated to identify individuals who had contact with the patient. Persons with the closest contact have been placed under quarantine and epidemiological supervision, and self-monitoring has been recommended.
The last recorded case of cholera in Poland occurred in 2019 in Świnoujście. This is the first such case in Stargard.
By decision of the hospital director in Stargard, admissions to the internal medicine ward were suspended immediately after a positive test result for Vibrio cholerae was received for the patient. The director also suspended visits to patients under epidemiological supervision. Disinfection of the ward has been recommended.
Cholera is an acute infectious disease of the gastrointestinal tract caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium. The main symptom is watery diarrhea, which leads to rapid dehydration of the body. The disease spreads through the consumption of contaminated water and food. It is rare in Poland but poses a serious threat in countries with poor sanitary conditions.