According to Haitian media reports on the 23rd, the cholera outbreak in Haiti is still spreading rapidly, the number of people who have died from this infectious disease has reached 210, and more than 2,600 other patients were hospitalized to receive treatment, while heavy rains in the infected areas seriously hampered the rescue work. Local officials said it was another major disaster facing the Haitian government and people since the January 2010 earthquake.
On Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti was struck by a powerful earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, killing about 300,000 people, injuring more than 300,000 and leaving another 1 million homeless.
While the Haitian government and people were struggling to rebuild with the support of the international community, another terrible disaster - cholera - struck them, adding to the woes of the Caribbean nation, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
Local laboratory analysis showed that the outbreak was a highly contagious O1 group Ogawa-type cholera. It was analyzed that the outbreak may be related to local contaminated food and water. The cholera outbreak has not yet reached the quake-hit capital, Port-au-Prince, but some hospitals in the capital have been filled with cholera patients from outside the city who have come to seek treatment.
After the cholera outbreak, the Haitian government actively took precautionary measures to prevent the spread of cholera on a wider scale. Medical teams from international aid organizations quickly rushed to the infected areas to rescue patients and carry out preventive work. However, due to the lack of medicines and heavy rainfall, the cholera epidemic has not yet been effectively controlled.
Haiti Ministry of Health officials said Haiti has been hit by heavy rains in recent days, torrential rains triggered by flooding and mudslides have caused dozens of deaths and disappearances, a large area of crops were submerged, and many bridges and highways were washed away. As a result, ambulances and other vehicles have been blocked, and it has been difficult for medical equipment and medicines to reach the infected areas, making it difficult to treat the sick and preventive work. On November 16, 2010, the Dominican *** and Principality of Dominica*** Ministry of Health announced that a hospital in the eastern city of Igua had reported a case of cholera virus infection on the same day in a young man who had just returned from a vacation in Haiti. This is the first confirmed case of cholera found in the Dominican Republic.
Dominican Minister of Health Rojas said at a press conference that the young man felt unwell after returning from a vacation in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, and went to the hospital. He was diagnosed at the hospital with the cholera virus, but his condition is stable.
Rojas said the cholera epidemic in Haiti is getting worse, which makes the situation in neighboring Dominica very serious. The Dominican Republic has also found 12 suspected cases of cholera, pending further confirmation.
Haiti's cholera outbreak initially broke out in the coastal areas of Artibonite Department, and then quickly spread to neighboring provinces. Cholera cases have been found in six of the country's 10 departments. Haiti's Ministry of Health released the latest announcement on the 16th, said cholera has caused 1,034 deaths, 1.67 million people hospitalized. The cholera epidemic in Haiti has caused serious concern and worry in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic and Haiti are in the northern Caribbean on the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican government has declared a 360-kilometer-long border area into the "red alert" state to prevent the cholera epidemic into the country.
According to the U.S. "Wall Street Journal" reported, the cholera epidemic in Haiti has caused more than 1,000 deaths, and is rapidly spreading to the country's borders. Haiti's neighboring Dominican **** and country has already found a cholera patient. At a sensitive time, only two weeks before the presidential election, tensions are rising in Haiti. Anti-UN protests erupted in several Haitian cities a few days ago, where they denounced UN peacekeeping forces for bringing cholera to them.