ARTICLE - CHOLERA DEATHS RISE

CHOLERA OUTBREAK DEATHS RISE TO MORE THAN 1,700 IN HAITI
(Epoch Times) - By Jack Phillips

The cholera outbreak death toll in Haiti has increased to 1,721 as the epidemic has become more dire, according to a report by AFP on Monday.

The outbreak has infected nearly 76,000 while nearly 34,000 have been hospitalized since mid-October, the report notes.

Artibonite has been the hardest-hit region in the earthquake-devastated island nation, where 750 people have died so far. Another 162 have died in the capital of Port-au-Prince, AFP reported.

Six cases have been confirmed in the Dominican Republic and another lone case has been confirmed in Miami.

"The medical specialists all say that this cholera epidemic will continue through months and maybe a year at least, that we will see literally hundreds of thousands of cases," U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti Nigel Fisher told Reuters.

Fisher added that the disease may infect as many as 200,000 people within a few months.

As for the origin of the epidemic, it probably came from outside the country, cholera specialist Professor Renaud Piarroux told AFP.

"It started in the center of the country, not by the sea, nor in the refugee camps. The epidemic can't be of local origin. That's to say, it was imported," he told the news agency.

In the past two weeks there have been violent protests in parts of Haiti aimed at U.N. peacekeepers whom locals blame bringing cholera into the country.

The country conducted national elections on Sunday despite calls to postpone it due to the outbreak. The election should be halted due to the “epidemic that threatens the lives of all Haitians,” four presidential candidates said in a statement.