Haiti: Cholera has killed more than 250 dead and reached Port-au-Prince

Written by Sandeep Nehra

The cholera has claimed more than 250 people dead and caused the hospitalization of 3,115 people in Haiti, where the authorities provide, however, that the epidemic is “contained,” despite new cases occurred during the weekend in the capital Port-au Prince.

The latest figures compiled Sunday by the Director General of Department of Public Health, Gabriel Thimoté, which reported 253 deaths and 3,115 hospitalizations, marks an increase of 30 deaths over the previous toll released on Saturday, while hospitalization seem to stagnate.

Cholera, eradicated in Haiti for over a hundred years, made its appearance in the north last week due to poor quality drinking water. Everyone fears it is developing now in Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of thousands of Haitians are sleeping in makeshift camps after the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 dead.

Of the 253 deaths announced Sunday were both recorded in a village near Port-au-Prince. A score of people suffering from “acute diarrhea” were also admitted this weekend in a cholera treatment center located in the capital by Doctors without Borders (MSF).

Late Saturday night, a laboratory of the Haitian Ministry of Health had confirmed cases of cholera in the western department that includes Port-au-Prince, according to a statement of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), linked to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In Geneva, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also confirmed Saturday the five cases of cholera in Port-au-Prince, while stating that “these cases do not constitute an epidemic as it is not a new focus of infection.

“Of the five confirmed cases of cholera in Port-au-Prince, four turned out to be people from the Artibonite (north) and of Centre”, according to OCHA. “The identification of these five cases in the capital, although disturbing, demonstrates that the system of epidemic surveillance works.”

Indeed, the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marie Michele Rey, said Sunday that the outbreak appeared to be “contained until further notice” on the sidelines of the Francophonie Summit which took place in Switzerland. Citing an epidemic geographically limited, she said he was “confident”.

Cholera, a highly contagious disease caused by bacteria, causing very severe diarrhea. In the absence of immediate care based primarily on rehydration, this very serious loss of fluids (a patient may lose 10% of its weight in four hours) is often fatal.

We know however prevent deaths due to cholera treatment with antibiotics, purifying water and distributing hygiene kits.

Sunday, the 56 member countries of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) have called for “continued and strengthened their mobilization for the reconstruction of Haiti priority country francophone solidarity.” “All the French are Haitians,” he assured the Senegalese Abdou Diouf, secretary general of the OIF.

Besides cholera, the Haitian authorities must deal with the looming threat of another earthquake. A study by a team of American geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park unveiled Sunday shows that the January 12 earthquake was indeed devastating, but has not released all the tension accumulated over the years along a well-known earthquake fault, which always presents a significant risk to the capital, Port-au-Prince.

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