Cholera claimed 4,000 lives in Haiti
By IANSTuesday, January 25, 2011
Port-au-Prince, Jan 26 (IANS/EFE) More than 3,900 Haitians have died of cholera since the outbreak of the disease in mid-October, the country’s health officials has said.
The disease has spread across all 10 provinces of Haiti, infecting 199,497 people. Of the 112,656 patients hospitalised, 110,031 have been successfully treated.
Artibonite, the northern province, accounts for 852 cholera deaths, while 632 fatalities have been registered in Ouest province, including Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of thousands stay in camps more than a year after the devastating earthquake that claimed some 300,000 lives.
Only one of the 239 cholera cases detected in the neighbouring Dominican Republic has resulted in death.
Though the origin of the outbreak remains unclear, French scientists traced it to a unit of Nepalese soldiers serving with the UN Stabilisation Mission for Haiti.
The Nepalese troops are suspected of dumping untreated human waste into a river that was the area’s main source of drinking water.
–IANS/EFE
