China: Wuhan student diagnosed with cholera, no other cases found

July 11 (UPI) -- A case of cholera was reported in Central China's Hubei Province on Monday but local officials say the patient has greatly improved and no other cases were found, official media reported.

The Wuchang district government said the patient is a postgraduate student at Wuhan University who was confirmed with the pathogen and has since been isolated in a hospital, according to the state-run tabloid Global Times.

The student's symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and fever dissipated after effective treatment while sample testing and contact tracing at the university revealed no additional cases, officials said.

Cholera, caused by the bacteria Vibrio cholerae, is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine. About 10% of patients develop severe symptoms such as watery diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock, and without treatment, death can occur within hours, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is relatively rare in China, the United States and other industrialized nations and is most likely to occur and spread in places with inadequate water treatment, poor sanitation and inadequate hygiene.

"There's no need for panic," Wuhan University pathologist Yang Zhanqiu told the Chinese publication, noting that only sporadic cases of cholera have been reported in China since 2000.

The Wuhan student's case triggered a wave of online rumors purporting that students in one of school's dormitories were asked to isolate and subjected to anal swabs, according to the South China Morning Post.

The university and its affiliated hospital, however, said they only sent out a notice on Sunday asking students to be on the lookout for symptoms of bowel infection and instructing them to seek treatment if they showed malaria-like symptoms and vomiting.