Cholera
Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease spread through contaminated water or food; outbreaks follow breakdowns in clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Snapshot: 9/21/2026, 3:30:49 PM · 23 tracked locations · 250,034 active cases (dataset)
At a glance
Quick facts
- How it spreads
- Fecal-oral routes via contaminated water and food; limited person-to-person spread compared to environmental amplification.
- How serious
- About 0.7 of every 100 confirmed cases died
- Where it's active
- Highest current burden: Yemen (YE) and Haiti (HT).
- Vaccine / treatment
- Safe water, sanitation, hygiene promotion, and reactive vaccination campaigns in emergencies.
Important
Virus Tracker provides aggregated outbreak monitoring for education and situational awareness. It is not medical advice, a diagnostic service, or a substitute for guidance from qualified health professionals or official public health agencies. Always consult licensed clinicians and authoritative sources for personal health decisions.
Overview
Cholera spreads explosively where infrastructure is stressed by conflict, floods, or displacement. Rapid oral rehydration saves lives; antibiotics play a selective role. Virus Tracker maps regional signals where cholera appears in blended outbreak datasets.
Transmission
Fecal-oral routes via contaminated water and food; limited person-to-person spread compared to environmental amplification.
Symptoms & clinical notes
Profuse watery diarrhea and dehydration; severe cases present with shock. Children and malnourished individuals face higher mortality without treatment.
Prevention & control
Safe water, sanitation, hygiene promotion, and reactive vaccination campaigns in emergencies. Surveillance of water quality complements case counts.
Surveillance context
Laboratory confirmation and rapid tests improve cluster detection; cross-border notification prevents silent spread along migration corridors.
Live dataset
Key metrics
Active cases
250K
Deaths
4.1K
How fast it's spreading
1.1%
RisingCholera — global infection heat map
Country shading reflects relative active-case intensity from the current Virus Tracker dataset for this pathogen. Hover countries on desktop for counts.
Darker red = more people currently sick.
Live dataset
Trajectory outlook
Projected case trend with a modeled confidence range.
Projected case trajectory for Cholera, with a shaded confidence range, based on the current Virus Tracker dataset.
Illustrative estimateLive dataset
Top regions by active cases
The 10 tracked locations with the most active Cholera cases in the current dataset.
Top 10 tracked locations for Cholera by active cases, ranked highest to lowest.
Live dataset
Threat intelligence visuals
Threat matrix
How fast vs. how deadly
Each bubble is a threat. Bigger bubbles mean more people are currently sick.
Where this data comes from
11 of 15 sources are reporting normally.
- 11 healthy sourcesHealthy
- 4 sources downDown
- Data reliability
- 83%
- Confidence-adjusted exposure
- 176.2K
Overall threat level
Where it's hitting hardest
- Haiti41.4K active · score 43.8
- Democratic Republic of the Congo28.1K active · score 43.1
- Chad17.3K active · score 42.3
- Somalia15.6K active · score 42.1
- Sudan13.7K active · score 41.8
- Tanzania11.4K active · score 41.5
- Kenya5.9K active · score 40.4
- Iraq5K active · score 40.1
Dataset
Top affected regions
| Location | Active | Deaths | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yemen (YE) | 79,840 | 4,110 | Stable |
| Haiti (HT) | 41,421 | 0 | Stable |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo (CD) | 28,093 | 0 | Stable |
| Chad (TD) | 17,267 | 0 | Stable |
| Yemen (YE) | 15,751 | 0 | Stable |
| Somalia (SO) | 15,619 | 0 | Stable |
| Sudan (SD) | 13,681 | 0 | Stable |
| Tanzania (TZ) | 11,360 | 0 | Stable |
| Kenya (KE) | 5,866 | 0 | Stable |
| Iraq (IQ) | 4,965 | 0 | Stable |
| South Sudan (SS) | 4,295 | 0 | Stable |
| Malawi (MW) | 1,792 | 0 | Stable |
Frequently asked questions
How do people catch cholera?
By drinking water or eating food contaminated with the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, usually where sewage has mixed with drinking water supplies.
Is there a vaccine for cholera?
Yes, oral cholera vaccines exist and are used in reactive campaigns during outbreaks and preventively in high-risk areas, though supply can be limited.
How is cholera treated?
Prompt oral or intravenous rehydration is the most important treatment and is highly effective. Antibiotics can shorten illness in more severe cases.
Is this page medical advice?
Virus Tracker provides aggregated outbreak monitoring for education and situational awareness. It is not medical advice, a diagnostic service, or a substitute for guidance from qualified health professionals or official public health agencies. Always consult licensed clinicians and authoritative sources for personal health decisions.
What does "outbreak activity" mean on Virus Tracker?
Outbreak activity reflects active-case burden relative to recoveries in our models. It helps compare stressed outbreak zones within the dataset—it is not a clinical score.
How often is this wiki updated?
Figures refresh on the site’s ingestion and revalidation schedule (typically about every 30 minutes in production). Timestamps on the dashboard snapshot indicate the last build of the underlying dataset.
Why might the heat map not match official government totals?
We merge multiple open sources and fallbacks; reporting lag, testing policy, and geographic coverage differ by country. Use national health ministries for authoritative case definitions.
Related on Virus Tracker
Related pathogens