Outbreak: Disease Runs Through
by C. L. Cook
Al Jazeera (English) is reporting an outbreak of a disease thought to be Cholera, spreading rapidly through the crowded refugee camps of Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have been living rough since last January's massive earthquake there.
Scores are dead in what is being described as an outbreak of "fatal sickness" running through the camps bordering the Caribbean island nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. Health officials there are not yet ready to name the "fatal sickness," but it is widely believed to be the water-borne cholera.
The Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency quoted unnamed health authorities saying;
"The first results from the lab tests show that there is cholera, but
we don't know which type."
More than 130 are reported dead at time of writing, but it is feared many more will fall victim to the disease, which causes severe intestinal sickness and fatal diarrhea.
More than a quarter million Haitians perished during and in the aftermath of the January quake, while more than a million are still homeless.
Heavy rains in recent days have made conditions in the Haitian camps particularly miserable for people surviving there, and increasingly worrisome for those watching disease vectors.
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