A patient from Stargard with suspected cholera in a hospital in Szczecin

A patient with suspected cholera is being treated at the provincial hospital in Szczecin. Her condition is stable and her life is not in danger. Twenty-six people who had contact with the patient are in quarantine, and 86 people are under epidemiological surveillance. The woman has not left the country.

Doctors confirmed the presence of cholera bacteria in the woman last Saturday, while she was still hospitalized in Stargard. That same day, she was transported to Szczecin, to the local provincial hospital on Arkońska Street, which has a modern infectious diseases ward.

- The patient is currently in a stable condition, her life is not in danger - said on Sunday Prof. Miłosz Parczewski, national consultant in the field of infectious diseases and the head of the observation and infectious diseases department of the SPWSZ in Szczecin.

He also noted that for now it is only a suspicion of cholera infection.

"The cholera vibrio, Vibrio cholerae, non-toxigenic, has already been found in Poland, in freshwater reservoirs, in the Baltic Sea," said Professor Miłosz Parczewski. "During summer, these vibrio can multiply in our fresh and slightly brackish water, such as the coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. The patient has been found to contain genetic material from Vibrio cholerae. This means that we only have a positive result for the bacteria. We haven't detected the toxin. Tests for the toxin are ongoing. Therefore, this person is suspected of having cholera, and only the detection of the toxin allows for a diagnosis of this infection. Of course, we must treat this case with the utmost caution and implement appropriate procedures."

The professor added that the hospital in Szczecin is prepared to isolate such patients, and the staff is appropriately trained, which eliminates the risk of spreading the infection within the facility.

Appropriate procedures have also been implemented by sanitary services.

"We have 26 people in quarantine, and 86 are under epidemiological supervision," said Paweł Mayko from the Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station. "These are people who had direct or indirect contact with the patient."

Cholera treatment, as Professor Parczewski noted, primarily involves intensive hydration of the patient. Antibiotics, which are widely available in hospitals, are also administered, but primarily it is symptomatic treatment for dehydration.©℗

Agnieszka Spirydowicz