Increase in Haiti Cholera Patients – Doctors Without Borders

Haiti’s health system still does not have the capacity to adequately treat cholera patients and there has been an uptick in cases in the country’s capital, an official with the international medical group Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday.


According to Oliver Schulz, head of the group’s Haiti mission, more than 2,000 people with symptoms of the bacterial disease had required emergency hospitalization in the country’s capital of Port-au-Prince since mid-October.


Schulz told reporters who visited one of two Port-au-Prince emergency centers set up by the group that the number of cholera patients has gone up “very quickly” in recent weeks. Compared to the same period in 2013, the number of cases treated by Doctors Without Borders has almost doubled.


In a statement, the group said the Haitian health system “is still facing shortages of funding, human resources and drugs.”


Cholera cases become particularly bad during rainy months, aggravated by a scarcity of sanitation and clean water in many areas. It is most often spread through the consumption of contaminated drinking water or food.


The cholera outbreak in Haiti surfaced in October 2010. Scientific studies have shown it was likely introduced to Haiti by U.N. peacekeepers. Cholera has killed more than 8,500 people since the outbreak started.

Source: Associated Press