Is A Cholera Epidemic Breaking Out In Russian Regions Adjoining Ukraine? – OpEd

By

At the end of last month, a Russian specialist on particularly dangerous diseases reported that Russian regions adjoining Ukraine were seeing cases of cholera. In response, Moscow officials called on their local counterparts to take measures. But now their superiors say there is no truth in the earlier reports.

This exchange is documented at newizv.ru/news/society/11-05-2022/ekspert-zayavil-ob-opasnosti-rasprostraneniya-holery-iz-yuzhnyh-regionovnewizv.ru/news/society/29-04-2022/v-prigranichnyh-s-ukrainoy-regionah-rossii-usilili-profilaktiku-holery and newizv.ru/news/society/05-05-2022/v-rospotrebnadzore-oprovergli-soobscheniya-o-vozbuditelyah-holery-v-vode.

The possibility that cholera has broken out is unfortunately all too real: wars and the disorder and migration flows they promote can contribute to conditions that allow for this horrific disease to appear. Consequently, it is entirely possible that cases of this disease have appeared.

But even if the Moscow officials are correct that these do not constitute an epidemic, that will do little to calm the population which no longer knows what to believe or from whom or mean that more cholera cases may appear in the coming days, frightening a population that already has much to be frightened of.

Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at [email protected] .

One thought on “Is A Cholera Epidemic Breaking Out In Russian Regions Adjoining Ukraine? – OpEd

  • May 27, 2022 at 8:37 pm
    Permalink

    A question; Is this due to the 36 American Bio-Chemical Labs in Ukraine that were geared towards the Slavic population?.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *