Battered Mariupol Faces Attack on a New Front

Exiled authorities say cholera has broken out, but can information from the Russian-occupied city be trusted? From Rubryka.

In recent days, the Ukrainian news has been buzzing with headlines about tens of thousands of deaths should an epidemic hit in Mariupol and about a decision to put the Russian-held city into quarantine. Some media have painted a horrifying medieval picture and write that “corpse poison” is spreading in the town.

An adviser to the Mariupol mayor, Petro Andriushchenko, last week said, “There is information that Russia has already prepared infectious disease units in Rostov-on-Don. … The word ‘cholera’ is heard not only in the WHO [World Health Organization] but also inside the city, among the occupation authorities.” He stated that simply closing the city was “the most cynical way to fight the epidemic: just shut the people in the city, leave everything as it is, whoever survives, survives.”

What Is ‘Corpse Poison’?

According to environmental security expert Maksym Soroka, the war has wreaked both physical and environmental catastrophe.

“Unfortunately, this war has created all the environmental disasters we could’ve imagined,” Soroka said. “Currently, throughout Ukraine, where hostilities have occurred, we’re witnessing significant air, soil, and water pollution and the deterioration of the sanitary and epidemiological situation. It is a painful issue for Mariupol and all occupied and formerly occupied cities and territories.”

The number of mass graves in the occupied cities is very large. In Mariupol, corpses and mass graves are still being found.

However, it’s impossible to investigate the situation in Mariupol. Soroka says it is only possible to draw a parallel between Mariupol and the occupied cities in the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions, where many corpses lie on the ground or in the fields. Although there are health hazards in this situation, he says, on the other hand, “We see how such a term as corpse poison is spread on television, and as a specialist, it is strange to me.”

Decomposition of bodies can pose a health threat because the decay process is accompanied by a variety of staphylococcus bacteria, putrefying bacteria, and other microbes. Civic activists and state personnel are engaged in cleanup operations.

“They’re trying to remove all corpses from ravines, dugouts, and similar areas to ensure epidemiological safety. If it’s not done, a cascading effect can occur when the whole ecosystem in this area begins to fall apart,” Soroka said. “So I fully agree with the World Health Organization that there is a risk of an epidemic. But don’t forget that the immunity of a healthy person is robust, and it fights these bacteria powerfully. Another thing is when the body hasn’t received vitamins for many months and is exhausted,” he added.

Cholera Risk

Cholera is an acute, fast-spreading infectious disease often characterized by severe diarrhea. It can be fatal.

Andriushchenko pointed out during a television appearance that cholera bacteria in the sea at this time of year is an annual phenomenon, typical for Mariupol and the Sea of Azov.WHOspokeswomanMargaretHarris confirmedthat in the past, cholera outbreaks have occurred in Mariupol and neighboring areas. For now, no data are available because no WHO representatives are in Mariupol.

Andriushchenko himself announced the first wave of cholera on 6 June: “Shallow graves and rotting garbage on the streets – all this ends up in the water, the sea, and sources of drinking water. The risk of an epidemic is not just threatening. It’s already at a level that we are recording isolated cases [to the extent that we can] and this allows us to say that the epidemic has in principle begun,” Andriushchenko said.

There is also a threat of dysentery and viral diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, he said. However, the city’s devastated infrastructure is the main risk factor: “It [a disease outbreak] can occur because of unsanitary conditions. But the worst thing is that even such a seemingly trivial thing as dysentery in the current health system – with the lack of drugs, lack of laboratories, lack of everything we are used to, and lack of vaccines in Mariupol – can lead to tens of thousands of deaths,” he said.

The Danger Is Not Only to Health

Soroka told Rubryka that the information about the cholera epidemic spread in the Ukrainian media resembles disinformation.

“We gave them [the Russian occupiers] a good justification to close the city, finding a reason to quarantine the city, and not allow inspectors or the Red Cross mission so that they can slaughter everyone there!” the expert said.

At the same time, city councilor Maksym Borodin – who like the rest of the city administration is no longer in Mariupol but stays in contact with locals – notes that it is impossible to obtain any objective information about the state of affairs in Mariupol. According to him, there are rumors that people are forbidden to visit the beaches, allegedly because of mines.

While this may be true, Borodin pointed out that “all sewage and storm-water runoff goes to the sea without any treatment. Almost all the water mains were damaged. When the occupiers tried to supply water for apartments, most of the water ended up near houses – it flooded all the potholes, all the places where there was rubbish and where people were buried. Water takes this microflora with it and reaches the springswhere people obtain water. There are several in Mariupol, and people use them. So, most likely, the ban is not related to mines, but to Escherichia coli and other infections, especially now that it has become sweltering.”

[Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said last weekend that dysentery and cholera had broken out and warned that “thousands more” city residents could die. Earlier, Boychenko said Russian forces had placed the city into quarantine and were allowing no one to enter or leave, the Guardian reported – Transitions note.]

Lawyer, medical law specialist, and deputy minister of health in 2014–2015, Natalia Lisnevska agrees that the destruction caused by the Russians could have major health implications.

“There may be a cholera outbreak in Mariupol and the surrounding areas because we have problems with water supply, surface burials, mixing sewage water with drinking water, and a humanitarian catastrophe,” she said.

Lisnevska also said that WHO was making similar predictions and preparing to supply necessary vaccines.

[WHO was stockpiling cholera vaccines at its Ukraine hub in Dnipro, WHO regional director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, said on 17 May – Transitions note.]

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Reported by Victoria Gubareva for Rubryka, an outlet for solutions journalism in Ukraine. Edited for length and clarity. Republished with permission.