Guinea-Bissau: Low-Cost Treatment in Cholera Epidemic Could Save Many Lives

Guinea Bissau is about to run out of intravenous fluids and equipment essential to the low-cost life-saving treatment for cholera, which has claimed 112 lives in this tiny West African nation since June. An additional 6,420 patients are still at risk. Portugal and France were the first countries to send medical aid in response to the current epidemic. One litre of IV fluid costs just over a dollar, and 3.5 litres are enough to save a cholera patient from death by dehydration.