Cholera is spreading fast, yet it can be stopped. Why haven’t we consigned it to history?

An MSF vaccination campaign against cholera in eastern Chad. Conflict is accelerating the disease’s spread and hampering control efforts in some countries. Photograph: Léa Gillabert/MSF

The last outbreak of cholera in Britain was in 1866; in the United States there has not been an outbreak since 1911.

And yet today people are sick with this ancient disease in 32 countries, with more than 6,800 deaths reported so far this year –already exceeding all of last year’s toll of 6,000 deaths, which was itself a 50% increase on 2023.