In the earthquake and hurricane damaged country of Haiti a cholera outbreak has made it into the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The disease has been lingering in the countryside for quite some time, and has now been confirmed by health officials to be in the capital city. This is especially a concern because of the overcrowded, unsanitary earthquake camps that still are home nearly 1.3 million people. The disease itself is fairly easy to treat with rehydration and antibiotics, however it also kills quickly. With the limited number of resources for treating the disease in Haiti officials are fearing for the worst, saying the outbreak could affect 2.5 to 3 million people. This recent outbreak is attributed to the foothold that the disease now has in the countries river system. One possible reason for this is the recent hurricane that hit the country last week causing widespread flooding and leaving another 6,610 people homeless. 583 people have died so far from the disease with another 9,000 being treated for symptoms. Humanitarian groups are acting quickly in order to get clean water and other supplies into the city of Port-au-Prince and specifically the earthqauke vicitims camps, however time is not on their side. This is not good news for the poorest country in the western hemisphere and unfortunatley many of the predications only see the situation becoming worse.
For more information read the articles on BBC and the New York Times at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11721995 and http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/world/americas/10haiti.html?_r=1&hp
By: Colin Zimmerman
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