Cholera Outbreaks

Cholera Outbreaks 2025

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded seven cholera pandemics over the past two centuries. The current (7th) cholera epidemic is considered to have started in 1961. It continues in 23 countries across three WHO regions (Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, and South-East Asia) as of March 2025, with a case fatality rate of about 0.6%. The WHO's Global Cholera and Acute Watery Diarrhoea Dashboard was updated on March 20, 2025, as was WHO External Situation Report #24.

In 2024, 804,721 cholera cases and 5,805 related fatalities were reported from 33 countries across five WHO regions. Data show that 472,697 cholera cases were reported to the WHO in 2022, up from 223,370 in 2021. In January 2023, the WHO classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency. In 2022, 44 countries reported cholera cases, a 25% increase from the 35 countries that reported cases in 2021.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified an unprecedented global increase in cholera outbreaks over the last three years: 2022, 2023, and 2024. In addition, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the European CDC have reported active cholera transmissions in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, Haiti, Syria, and India.

Cholera Cases in the U.S.

Nearly all cholera cases reported in the U.S. are acquired during international travel. As of March 2025, there were (0) cholera cases reported in the U.S. As of December 31, 20224, week #52, eight cholera cases were reported to the CDC this year. In 2023, there were 17 cases, and in 2022, the CDC confirmed that eight travelers infected with cholera arrived from Pakistan, Iraq, and Bangladesh. In addition, the CDC's Clinician Outreach and Communication Alert in 2023 identified an unprecedented global increase in cholera infections.

Cholera Outbreaks Africa

Cholera outbreaks have affected 18 countries in the WHO African Region in 2025.

Zambia's oral cholera vaccination campaign reached 1.84 million eligible people in 2024. Zambia's cholera outbreak began in October 2024, and 412 people have died, and 10,413 cases have been recorded, according to the Zambia Public Health Institute in 2024. The Republic of Kenya vaccinated about 1.59 million people in eight high-risk counties during a 10-day OCV campaign in early August 2023. Since January 2022, a cumulative number of 223,951 cholera cases have been reported in Africa, including 4,125 deaths, with a case-fatality ratio (CFR) of 1.8%. Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, and Nigeria account for 83.4% of the cases. The WHO says (Feb. 2023) that Malawi has been experiencing a widespread cholera outbreak since March 2022. Malawi had among the highest total cases and the most deaths, 54,841 and 1,684, respectively, as of March 20, 2023. Cholera has been endemic in Malawi since 1998. In Mozambique, the first cholera case in the city of Beira was reported in January 1998, and an outbreak has been growing exponentially since December 2022, according to the WHO.

The Republic of Zimbabwe recently recorded 100 suspected cholera deaths and more than 5,000 possible cases in August 2023, prompting the government to impose restrictions.

The first cholera cases in this outbreak in South Africa were imported or import-related cases following travel to Malawi. All subsequent cases acquired infection locally and are classified as indigenous cases. As of May 22, 2023, a cholera outbreak has killed at least ten people near Pretoria. As a result, the city of Pretoria urged residents of Hammanskraal and surrounding areas not to drink from the tap. Sudan recently declared a cholera outbreak in Gedaref State, where 16 associated deaths had been reported in 2023.

Cholera Outbreaks in the Americas

The PAHO reported in April 2024 that the Brazil IHR National Focal Point (NFP) reported a case of autochthonous cholera in the municipality of Salvador, Bahia State.

Cholera Outbreaks Caribbean

In the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed that 113 suspected cholera cases, including one deceased case, were reported in 2024. Haitian national authorities reported confirmed cholera outbreaks in the greater Port-au-Prince area beginning in 2022. In 2023, over 40,000 cholera cases, including 253 deaths, were reported in Haiti.

Cholera Cases Europe

The ECDC stated in November 2024 that although the risk of cholera infection for travelers visiting these countries remains low, sporadic importation of cases to the EU/EEA is possible. In Europe, 51 cases, mostly infected abroad, were reported in 2022, compared to only five cases in 2021. Most of these isolates belonged to a strain that emerged recently and has caused cholera outbreaks in Asia and Africa.

Cholera Outbreaks United Kingdom

In March 2025, the United Kingdom reported four cases of cholera (toxigenic Vibrio cholerae serogroup O1) diagnosed in mid-February 2025, linked to travel to Ethiopia.