Haiti still recorded over 1,100 cholera cases a week in 2013
Since the outbreak of cholera began in Haiti in October 2010, months after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Caribbean country, amazingly, Haiti is still recording over 1,100 cholera cases per week, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Haiti Image/CIA
In their latest Epidemiological Update on Cholera, the health agency reports, “In 2013, there has been an average of 1,120 cholera cases and 9 deaths per week.
Over 1,000 cases a week three years after the outbreak began seems astounding; however, it’s not to one of the authors of the Yale University report, “Peacekeeping Without Accountability” released earlier this year.
Dr. Rosalyn Chan with The Global Health Justice Partnership of Yale Law school told me in an interview in August, “the cholera outbreak (in Haiti) is expected to go on for at least another decade.”
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“The weekly average recorded to date in 2013 is lower than recorded in 2011 (6,730 cholera cases and 56 deaths) and in 2012 (1,945 cases and 18 deaths).”
In Haiti, since the beginning of the epidemic, there have been 692,098 cholera cases, of which 386,652 were hospitalized (55.9 %) and 8,470 died. The cumulative case-fatality rate remains 1.2 %.
LISTEN: Yale researcher discusses Haiti cholera outbreak and link to UN peacekeepers
Elsewhere in the region, Cuba has reported a total of 678 confirmed cholera cases; however, no new cases have been reported since 24 August 2013.
On the other half of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic since the beginning of the epidemic (November 2010) there have been a total of 31,220 suspected cholera cases, of which 462 died.
And in Mexico, the number of cholera cases remain at 184 cases this year.
Cholera is a bacterial disease that can cause diarrhea and dehydration. Cholera is most often spread through the ingestion of contaminated food or drinking water. Water may be contaminated by the feces of an infected person or by untreated sewage. Food is often contaminated by water containing cholera bacteria or by being handled by a person ill with cholera.
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Vibrio cholerae
Image/CDC/ Janice Carr
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[…] Dr. Rosalyn Chan with The Global Health Justice Partnership of Yale Law school told me in an interview in August, “the cholera outbreak (in Haiti) is expected to go on for at least another decade.” via – The Global Dispatch […]