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Cholera expected to spread in Haiti, Dominican Republic

Other News Materials 26 October 2010 08:12 (UTC +04:00)
Cholera cases are expected to spread further in Haiti, while there is a "very high risk" that the disease will also reach the Dominican Republic, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) said Monday, dpa reported.
Cholera expected to spread in Haiti, Dominican Republic

Cholera cases are expected to spread further in Haiti, while there is a "very high risk" that the disease will also reach the Dominican Republic, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) said Monday, dpa reported.

"We expect these numbers to continue to increase and be reported from new areas of emergence of infection," Jon Andrus, PAHO deputy chief, told a press conference at the organization's Washington headquarters.

Based on the organization's experience of 1991 in Peru, which was the last notable outbreak of cholera in the Americas, a "rapid upswing" is expected over the first few weeks of the epidemic, Andrus said.

So far, PAHO confirms the official figures provided by the Haitian government, with 3,015 cholera infections and 253 deaths, though Andrus admits that the real figures could be higher.

Radio Metrople in Port-au-Prince on Monday reported 259 deaths and 3,115 infections Monday, citing government sources.

"The official numbers almost certainly underrepresent the true number of cases, because in general approximately 75 per cent of the cases have no symptoms," Andrus said. "They carry bacteria and transfer it to others."

PAHO said there are confirmed cases in the Western Province, which holds Port-au-Prince and "suspected" cases in the Southern and Northern provinces of Haiti.

"Now that cholera has established itself in Haiti, it's clear for us that this will not go away for several years," Andrus said.

The surge of cases will decline, "but there will be probably be sporadic cases in the future now that the bacteria is well established in the environment, so we need to plan that way," he said.

He stressed the importance of clean water, frequent hand washing and proper disposal of bodies to hinder the spread of the disease.

Andrus underlined the high probability that cases will emerge in the Dominican Republic, with which Haiti shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

"There is a very high risk," he warned. "We need to be thinking that the infection is going to reach the other side of the island."

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