Most cases of cholera that cause symptoms cause mild or moderate diarrhea that's often hard to tell apart from diarrhea caused by other problems. Others develop more-serious signs and symptoms of cholera, usually within a few days of infection. Symptoms of cholera infection can include: Diarrhea.

Is dysentery and cholera the same?

Cholera spreads rapidly in areas where drinking water is contaminated. That was the problem for those on the Oregon Trail just as it was in Haiti. Dysentery is also a diarrheal illness and is often caused by Shigella species (bacillary dysentery) or Entamoeba histolytica (amoebic dysentery).

Does cholera cause diarrhea?

The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe and life-threatening. About 1 in 10 people with cholera will experience severe symptoms, which, in the early stages, include: profuse watery diarrhea, sometimes described as “rice-water stools” vomiting.