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 Two weeks later cholera killed him too.
Yemen is suffering its third major outbreak of the water-borne
bacterial infection since the conflict broke out in 2015, causing
the world's most urgent humanitarian crisis that has put 10 million
people on the brink of famine.
The disease is spreading like "wild-fire", according to the United
Nations which recorded 110,000 suspected cholera cases and 200
deaths in three months.
Abdul-Mughni had been working in a temporary diarrhea treatment
center in the grounds of a hospital in Sanaa where around 120-150
severe cases arrive every day.
"We are taking in patients around the clock, constantly ... Cholera
is spreading widely now," said Ismail Mansoury, a doctor who worked
alongside him. "In the past two weeks we have admitted around 1,100
confirmed cholera cases."
Cholera causes profuse diarrhea and fluid loss which can kill within
hours. Children, the elderly and those weakened by years of poor
nutrition are most at risk.
The center outside the capital's Sabaeen hospital has tents, outdoor
toilets and overworked staff. Listless women on drips take up every
spot of available shade. Elderly ladies and children lie on gravel.
A man helps a boy up a large step to use a latrine.
Many of those arriving are in shock or have kidney failure, with
veins so shriveled by dehydration it is difficult to insert a needle
to administer lifesaving fluids.
The four-year-old war that pits the Iran-aligned Houthi movement
against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government has crippled the
healthcare system and economy, forcing people to travel long
distances to seek medical care.
"HARDLY A DROP OF WATER"
Mona Ali's 70-year-old mother-in-law traveled 25 km (15 miles) to
the hospital in a minibus after three days of uncontrollable
diarrhea and vomiting.
Ali, who herself had cholera two months ago and recovered at home,
said the family was extremely poor and had to take a loan to bring
her mother-in-law on the bus.
"We survive off yoghurt ... If there was food the body would be
stronger," she said.
Water resources are scarce in the poorest Arabian peninsula nation
and pumps are needed in many parts of the country of 30 million
people to bring water to the surface. Fuel shortages have
dramatically increased the price of clean water.
Ali said her village cannot afford the diesel needed to pump
underground water. "We end up taking it from the wells, even though
there is hardly a drop of water in them and it harms us," she said.
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The outbreak coincides with an early start to Yemen's rainy season,
but is also a sign of the war's degradation of public
infrastructure.
"There is an issue with waste disposal in the country. We know that
many communities don't have proper sewerage water systems in place.
That sewage water is being used for irrigation and other purposes,"
World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said.
Increased awareness about the disease could also account for more
reported cases this year, he added.
In a bid to stem the disease's spread, diggers have been removing
garbage from storm drains in Sanaa and workers are spraying streets,
drains and trash piles with disinfectant.
Plagued by decades of instability, Yemen's latest conflict began in
late 2014 when Houthi forces drove the government of President
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa. A Saudi-backed alliance of
Yemeni and Arab forces intervened in March 2015 to restore Hadi's
government.
The Houthis, who say their revolution is against corruption, control
Sanaa and most population centers.
The war has cut transport routes for aid, fuel and food, reduced
imports and caused severe inflation. Households have lost incomes
because public sector wages are not being paid and conflict has
forced people from their homes and jobs.
Mohammad Habab, a 34-year-old university-educated father of three,
still works in a state pharmaceutical company but receives no
salary.
His three-year-old daughter Zainab was hooked up to an outdoor drip
80 km from home after developing cholera symptoms that Habab blames
on a lack of clean water and nutritious food.
The U.N. and aid agencies are stepping up their response, but
conditions and access within the country remain challenging.
"We are working to the extremes of our strength," Abdul-Mughni told
Reuters before his death.
(Reporting by Abdulrahman al-Ansi in Sanaa Additional reporting by
Reuters TV in Yemen and Marina Depetris in Geneva; Writing by Lisa
Barrington; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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