Port-au-Prince on Tuesday reported its first suspected cases of cholera, although health officials here said there have been only “isolated” incidents of the illness which has killed more than 500 people elsewhere in Haiti.
Health Minister Ariel Henry told AFP that while there is no wide spread infection in the capital yet, a sizeable outbreak here now appears likely.
“It’s coming,” the health chief warned.
Henry said two deaths here believed to have been caused by cholera were being probed by health officials. Officials here have planned a press conference in Port-au-Prince later Tuesday to discuss the developments.
Health authorities fear that cholera could infiltrate the Port-au-Prince camps where hundreds of thousands of people bathe, wash and cook right next to each other, spreading like wildfire in the cramped and unsanitary conditions.
The Haitian capital for weeks had evaded the raging cholera epidemic, but Hurricane Tomas appears to have contributed to its arrival here, after the Artibonite River — the presumed source of the outbreak — overflowed its banks over the weekend.
In addition to hundreds of deaths in Haiti’s provinces, the scourge has sent more than 8,000 people to the hospital.
Although easily treated, the water-borne bacterial disease has a short incubation period, sometimes just a few hours, and causes acute diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death.
If one was to look back to the reports that we wrote here at Haitian-Truth.org shortly after the earthquake in January, we predicted this very thing would be a likely scenario. Anyone that was paying attention here in Haiti would say the same thing- the potential was there, but the government of Haiti does not care one bit for the people of this country. This is completely apparent now, more than ever.
ssak ki pi bel la se li kap rete sou pouvwa pou cink lot lane kap vini yo. pifo sekte leta nan peyi ya pral privatize tankou lekol, lopital elektrisite et lstriye.nou te tande Jud Celestin nan deba ki te fet denyeman. li te pale kle.li pral rele sekte prive pou ede li nan zafe sa yo.
Bon nou fout pran net. sel Bondye ki ka di you mo pou nou.
Boujwa pap kite Haiti mache jan li ta dwe mache.