HTH -- Haiti Earthquake

April 4, 2012. Cholera cases jump as rainy season begins in Haiti

SOURCE: Altegrity Risk International

There has been a jump in the number of cholera cases in Haiti, according to a UN humanitarian agency on April 3rd. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the new cholera cases were found in the western and northern parts of the country and that Haitian health officials recorded 77 new cases a day for the entire country in early March, when the annual rainy season began.

Medical teams have been deployed to stem the spread of cholera but their effectiveness has been hampered in part by little coordination and an absence of salaries paid to people working in cholera treatment centers run by Haitian authorities, the U.N. bulletin said. The new cholera cases come after a steady decline since June of last year when aid workers saw peaks of more than 1,000 cases on certain days. Cholera is caused by a bacteria found in contaminated water or food, and can kill people within hours through dehydration. It is easily treatable if caught in time.