Cholera epidemic spreads in Haiti; Nearly 200 dead

[Guest guest]

Cholera epidemic spreads in Haiti; Nearly 200 dead

By JACOB KUSHNER, Kushner, Associated Press 2 hrs 7 mins ago

ST. MARC, Haiti – A cholera epidemic spread in central Haiti on Friday as aid

groups rushed doctors and supplies to fight the country's worst health crisis

since January's earthquake. Nearly 200 deaths had been confirmed and more than

2,000 people were ill.

The first two cases of the disease outside the rural Artibonite region were

confirmed in Arcahaie, a town that is closer to the quake-devastated capital,

Port-au-Prince.

Officials are concerned the outbreak could reach the squalid tarp camps where

hundreds of thousands of quake survivors live in the capital.

" It will be very, very dangerous, " said Claude Surena, president of the Haitian

Medical Association. " Port-au-Prince already has more than 2.4 million people,

and the way they are living is dangerous enough already. "

The Ministry of Health confirmed 194 deaths and 2,364 cases of cholera, said

Imogen Wall, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of

Humanitarian Affairs.

" It's concentrated in Artibonite right now and we're doing our best to keep it

that way, " Wall said.

Dozens of patients lay on the floor awaiting treatment at the St.

hospital in the seaside city of St. Marc, some of them brushing away flies on

mattresses stained with human feces.

One of them, 55-year-old Jille Sanatus, had been there since his son Jordany

brought him Thursday night. A doctor was struggling to stick a needle into his

arm.

" He's completely dehydrated, so it's difficult. It's hard to find the vein, "

said Dr. Roasana Casimir, who had been working nearly without rest since the

outbreak began two days earlier.

Casimir finally penetrated the vein and fluid from an IV bag began to trickle

in, but half an hour later the father of 10 was dead. Two hospital employees

carried the body to the morgue behind the hospital and placed it on the ground

for the family to reclaim for a funeral.

Sanatus' son said the family had been drinking water from a river running down

from the central plateau region. Health Minister Larsen said Friday that

the river tested positive for cholera.

Wall said the sick patients and the contagious remains of the dead were

insufficiently quarantined.

" Part of the problem has been people are moving around a lot, and there hasn't

been proper isolation in place at the clinics, " she said.

The sick come from across the desolate Artibonite Valley, a region that received

thousands of refugees following the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed as many as

300,000 people and destroyed the capital 45 miles (70 kilometers) south of St.

Marc. Most of the new arrivals have been taken in by host families.

In addition to the two cholera cases confirmed by the health ministry in

Arcahaie, the International Medical Corps said it was investigating other

possible cases in Croix-des-Bouquet, a suburb of the capital. Radio reports also

said there were two dozen cases of diarrhea on Gonave island.

Cholera was not present in Haiti before the earthquake, but experts had warned

that conditions were ripe for disease to strike in areas with limited access to

clean water.

" You cannot say it is because of the earthquake, but because of the earthquake

the situation here requires a high level of attention in case the epidemic

extends, " said Michel Thieren, a program officer for the Pan-American Health

Organization.

Cholera is a bacterial infection spread through contaminated water. It causes

severe diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to dehydration and death within

hours.

Larsen, the health minister, urged anyone suffering diarrhea to make their own

rehydration serum out of salt, sugar and water to drink on the way to a

hospital.

Bragg, the U.N.'s No. 2 humanitarian official, said officials could

not yet explain exactly how the outbreak occurred, or when it might end.

" I cannot say that it is under control, " Bragg, the U.N.'s assistant

secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters at U.N. headquarters

in New York. " Cholera deaths are preventable, and we're doing everything we can.

However, clearly a lot more needs to be done. "

The number of cases will continue to grow because Haitians do not have any

built-up immunity to cholera, said Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan

American Health Organization's Regional Office for the Americas, which is

sending medical teams to the neighboring Dominican Republic as a preventive

measure.

" We have all the things in place for something we know will get bigger, " Andrus

said.

Aid groups and the government were rushing in medical and relief supplies

including 10,000 boxes of water purification tablets and 2,500 jerrycans,

according to the World Health Organization.

Wall said some 300,000 courses of antibiotics were available in Haiti and were

being prepared for use in the Artibonite.

Outside the hospital in St. Marc, 28-year-old Ismode Mesinord was among dozens

of relatives clamoring to get in to see their relatives. She complained security

guards would not her in to visit her 1-year-old son.

" I'm worried because he's vomiting and has diarrhea and there's no one to take

care of him, " she said.

http://news./s/ap/20101023/ap_on_he_me/cb_haiti_disease_outbreak