Saturday, April 28, 2012

ARTICLE - CHOLERA - 150 CASES PER DAY

HAITI REPORTING 150 CASES OF CHOLERA EVERY DAY
(Prensa Latina) -

Port au Prince - At least 150 cholera cases are reported every day in Haiti, reported authorities, who fear a new outbreak caused by rains.

According to the national coordinator to fight the disease, Francois Donald, there is "a strong upsurge" in the capital and in the Western region, mainly in the department of Croix des Bouquets.

Only in Croix des Bouquets there have been recorded in one day, 75 people infected and one death, Donald said in an interview with the local agency AlterPresse.

The new cases coincide with the rains affecting Haiti since last weekend, which have caused at least 10 deaths, 10,000 displaced people, floods and damage to crops and homes.

According to Francois, there are no cases reported in the places where the Ministry of Health launched two weeks ago a vaccination campaign against the disease, in which some 100,000 volunteers will receive two oral doses of the drug.

More than seven thousand people died of cholera here during 2011 and another 520,000, more than five percent of the population, contracted it in the same period; although the epidemic has been contained since early this year.

Calculations of the Pan American Health Organization estimates that some 200,000 Haitians may be infected with the disease this year.

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