Brussels - Since the beginning of January, MSF has recorded more than 1,700 people with cholera in the cities of Lubumbashi, Bukama and Likasi. All these people came from the poorer areas where bad hygiene conditions, combined with high population density, contribute to the flaring up of this extremely contagious disease. "What we have seen in Lubumbashi was repeated in Likasi," said Bertrand Perrochet, MSF Emergency Team Coordinator. "Adequate measures to avoid the outbreak have not been taken by the health authorities. In the space of a few days the main referral hospitals in the district of Kenya in Lubumbashi, and in the city of Likasi, were overloaded. There were not enough beds, no continuous disinfection of the building. An alarming situation for a contagious disease that kills up to 50 percent of patients, if left untreated." Cholera is caused by a waterborne bacteria which can also be transmitted through infected excrements and vomit. It causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and general weakness. If left untreated, the patient may die very quickly of dehydration. Treatment consists of re-hydration through perfusion and oral solutions containing mineral salts and glucose. MSF logisticians simultaneously improved the treatment centre in Lubumbashi and built a new one in another neighbourhood of this 1.3 million people city. "Thanks to the opening of this second treatment centre, the number of patients has become manageable on both sides" said Perrochet. "These last days, 25 patients on average have come to be treated in each health centre".