Ancient cultures used the spice as an antiseptic and to treat cholera and bronchitis.
A case in point, he notes, is Zimbabwe, where thousands of people have died from a cholera epidemic.
He says acute problems of diarrhea and cholera increasingly are popping up in areas and countries, which previously were able to control them.
Under the IHR (1969), only cholera, plague and yellow fever remain notifiable, meaning that States are required to notify WHO if and when these diseases occur on their territory.
The situation appears to be under control, although cholera is an ongoing problem in Mali.
Their severity typically reflects the level of development: the more squalid a country, the more virulent the cholera.
If you have diarrhoea - especially severe diarrhoea - and are in an area where there is cholera, seek treatment immediately from a physician or other trained health care provider.
People began to feel alarmed about the cholera.
Slums are productive breeding grounds for tuberculosis, hepatitis, dengue, pneumonia, cholera, and diarrhoeal diseases that spread easily in highly concentrated populations.
While no epidemics have been confirmed in the vast coastal areas devastated by the tsunamis on Sunday, the officials said they were most worried about diarrheal diseases- cholera, typhoid fever and shigellosis- as well as liver diseases like hepatitis A and E.
The method has previously been used to fight rinderpest in Africa and Asia and hog cholera in South America.
The cholera outbreak has been contained.
UNICEF says there is a crucial need for food and safe drinking water, and is warning of the potential for waterborne disease outbreaks such as diarrhea and cholera.
Vibrio cholera Inaba has been laboratory confirmed in several stool samples by African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) laboratories in Nairobi.
Said Stocking during a recent visit to Zimbabwe: "we have to expect a cholera epidemic and outbreak to happen again at the end of this year given that the water and sewage system is not working well."
The overall quality of water and sanitation remains very poor, therefore facilitating cholera transmission.
Inadequate sewerage spreads infections such as schistosomiasis, trachoma, viral hepatitis and cholera.
