Yes. However, although there is a vaccine for cholera, it offers only limited immunity and the jury is out about whether or not travellers should be vaccinated.

While some doctors recommend it, others doubt its efficacy and suggest that travellers should rather take precautions with food and drinking water.

Regretfully, none of the current vaccines have the necessary combination of high efficacy, long duration of protection, simplicity of administration and low cost to make mass vaccination a possibility in cholera areas.

Cholera symptoms can range from mild to severe and include:

• Diarrhoea (look out for the characteristic ‘rice water’ stools or diarrhoea that has a fishy odour);